Marco Perez

All Publications

• Rationale and design of a large-scale, app-based study to identify cardiac arrhythmias using a smartwatch: The Apple Heart Study. American heart journal Turakhia, M. P., Desai, M., Hedlin, H., Rajmane, A., Talati, N., Ferris, T., Desai, S., Nag, D., Patel, M., Kowey, P., Rumsfeld, J. S., Russo, A. M., Hills, M. T., Granger, C. B., Mahaffey, K. W., Perez, M. V. 2018

  Abstract

  BACKGROUND: Smartwatch and fitness band wearable consumer electronics can passively measure pulse rate from the wrist using photoplethysmography (PPG). Identification of pulse irregularity or variability from these data has the potential to identify atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter (AF, collectively). The rapidly expanding consumer base of these devices allows for detection of undiagnosed AF at scale.METHODS: The Apple Heart Study is a prospective, single arm pragmatic study that has enrolled 419,093 participants (NCT03335800). The primary objective is to measure the proportion of participants with an irregular pulse detected by the Apple Watch (Apple Inc, Cupertino, CA) with AF on subsequent ambulatory ECG patch monitoring. The secondary objectives are to: 1) characterize the concordance of pulse irregularity notification episodes from the Apple Watch with simultaneously recorded ambulatory ECGs; 2) estimate the rate of initial contact with a health care provider within 3 months after notification of pulse irregularity. The study is conducted virtually, with screening, consent and data collection performed electronically from within an accompanying smartphone app. Study visits are performed by telehealth study physicians via video chat through the app, and ambulatory ECG patches are mailed to the participants.CONCLUSIONS: The results of this trial will provide initial evidence for the ability of a smartwatch algorithm to identify pulse irregularity and variability which may reflect previously unknown AF. The Apple Heart Study will help provide a foundation for how wearable technology can inform the clinical approach to AF identification and screening.

  View details for PubMedID 30392584

• Incident Atrial Fibrillation Is Associated With MYH7 Sarcomeric Gene Variation in Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy. Circulation. Heart failure Lee, S., Ashley, E. A., Homburger, J., Caleshu, C., Green, E. M., Jacoby, D., Colan, S. D., Arteaga-Fernandez, E., Day, S. M., Girolami, F., Olivotto, I., Michels, M., Ho, C. Y., Perez, M. V., SHaRe Investigators 2018; 11 (9): e005191

  Abstract

  Background Although atrial fibrillation (AF) is common in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) patients, the relationship between genetic variation and AF has been poorly defined. Characterizing genetic subtypes of HCM and their associations with AF may help to improve personalized medical care. We aimed to investigate the link between sarcomeric gene variation and incident AF in HCM patients. Methods and Results Patients from the multinational Sarcomeric Human Cardiomyopathy Registry were followed for incident AF. Those with likely pathogenic or pathogenic variants in sarcomeric genes were included. The AF incidence was ascertained by review of medical records and electrocardiograms at each investigative site. One thousand forty adult HCM patients, without baseline AF and with likely pathogenic or pathogenic variation in either MYH7 (n=296), MYBPC3 (n=659), or thin filament genes (n=85), were included. Compared with patients with variation in other sarcomeric genes, those with MYH7 variants were younger on first clinical encounter at the Sarcomeric Human Cardiomyopathy Registry site and more likely to be probands than the MYBPC3 variants. During an average follow-up of 7.2 years, 198 incident AF events occurred. Patients with likely pathogenic or pathogenic mutations in MYH7 had the highest incidence of AF after adjusting for age, sex, proband status, left atrial size, maximal wall thickness, and peak pressure gradient (hazard ratio, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.1-2.6; P=0.009). Conclusions During a mean follow-up of 7.2 years, new-onset AF developed in 19% of HCM patients with sarcomeric mutations. Compared with other sarcomeric genes, patients with likely pathogenic or pathogenic variation in MYH7 had a higher rate of incident AF independent of clinical and echocardiographic factors.

  View details for PubMedID 30354366

• Effects of reproductive period duration and number of pregnancies on midlife ECG indices: a secondary analysis from the Women's Health Initiative Clinical Trial BMJ OPEN Parikh, N. I., Kapphahn, K., Hedlin, H., Olgin, J. E., Allison, M. A., Magnani, J. W., Ryckman, K. R., Waring, M. E., Perez, M., Howard, B. V. 2018; 8 (8): e019129

  Abstract

  Pregnancy, menses and menopause are related to fluctuations in endogenous sex hormones in women, which cumulatively may alter cardiac electrical conduction. Therefore, we sought to study the association between number of pregnancies and reproductive period duration (RD, time from menarche to menopause) with ECG intervals in the Women's Health Initiative Clinical Trials.Secondary analysis of multicentre clinical trial.USA.ECGintervals: PR interval, P-wave duration, P-wave dispersion, QTc interval.n=40 687 women (mean age=62 years) participating in the Women's Health Initiative Clinical Trials. 82.5% were white, 9.3% black, 4% Hispanic and 2.7% Asian.In primary analysis, we employed multivariable linear regression models relating number of pregnancies and RD with millisecond changes in intervals from enrolment ECG. We studied effect modification by hormone therapy use.Among participants, 5+ live births versus 0 prior pregnancies was associated with a 1.32 ms increase in PR interval (95% CI 0.25 to 2.38), with a graded association with longer QTc interval (ms) (none (prior pregnancy, no live births)=0.66 (-0.56 to 1.88), 1=0.15 (-0.71 to 1.02), 2-4=0.25 (-0.43 to 0.94) and 5+ live births=1.15 (0.33 to 1.98), p=0.008). RD was associated with longer PR interval and maximum P-wave duration (but not P-wave dispersion) among never users of hormone therapy: (PR (ms) per additional RD year: 0.10 (0.04 to 0.16); higher P-wave duration (ms): 0.09 (0.06 to 0.12)). For every year increase in reproductive period, QTc decreased by 0.04 ms (-0.07 to -0.01).An increasing number of live births is related to increased and RD to decreased ventricular repolarisation time. Both grand multiparity and longer RD are related to increased atrial conduction time. Reproductive factors that alter midlife cardiac electrical conduction system remodelling in women may modestly influence cardiovascular disease risk in later life.NCT00000611; Post-results.

  View details for PubMedID 30121588

• Exome-chip meta-analysis identifies novel loci associated with cardiac conduction, including ADAMTS6 GENOME BIOLOGY Prins, B. P., Mead, T. J., Brody, J. A., Sveinbjornsson, G., Ntalla, I., Bihlmeyer, N. A., van den Berg, M., Bork-Jensen, J., Cappellani, S., Van Duijvenboden, S., Klena, N. T., Gabriel, G. C., Liu, X., Gulec, C., Grarup, N., Haessler, J., Hall, L. M., Iorio, A., Isaacs, A., Li-Gao, R., Lin, H., Liu, C., Lyytikainen, L., Marten, J., Mei, H., Mueller-Nurasyid, M., Orini, M., Padmanabhan, S., Radmanesh, F., Ramirez, J., Robino, A., Schwartz, M., van Setten, J., Smith, A. V., Verweij, N., Warren, H. R., Weiss, S., Alonso, A., Arnar, D. O., Bots, M. L., de Boer, R. A., Dominiczak, A. F., Eijgelsheim, M., Ellinor, P. T., Guo, X., Felix, S. B., Harris, T. B., Hayward, C., Heckbert, S. R., Huang, P. L., Jukema, J. W., Kahonen, M., Kors, J. A., Lambiase, P. D., Launer, L. J., Li, M., Linneberg, A., Nelson, C. P., Pedersen, O., Perez, M., Peters, A., Polasek, O., Psaty, B. M., Raitakari, O. T., Rice, K. M., Rotter, J. I., Sinner, M. F., Soliman, E. Z., Spector, T. D., Strauch, K., Thorsteinsdottir, U., Tinker, A., Trompet, S., Uitterlinden, A., Vaartjes, I., van der Meer, P., Voelker, U., Voelzke, H., Waldenberger, M., Wilson, J. G., Xie, Z., Asselbergs, F. W., Doerr, M., van Duijn, C. M., Gasparini, P., Gudbjartsson, D. F., Gudnason, V., Hansen, T., Kaeaeb, S., Kanters, J. K., Kooperberg, C., Lehtimaki, T., Lin, H. J., Lubitz, S. A., Mook-Kanamori, D. O., Conti, F. J., Newton-Cheh, C. H., Rosand, J., Rudan, I., Samani, N. J., Sinagra, G., Smith, B. H., Holm, H., Stricker, B. H., Ulivi, S., Sotoodehnia, N., Apte, S. S., van der Harst, P., Stefansson, K., Munroe, P. B., Arking, D. E., Lo, C. W., Jamshidi, Y. 2018; 19: 87

  Abstract

  Genome-wide association studies conducted on QRS duration, an electrocardiographic measurement associated with heart failure and sudden cardiac death, have led to novel biological insights into cardiac function. However, the variants identified fall predominantly in non-coding regions and their underlying mechanisms remain unclear.Here, we identify putative functional coding variation associated with changes in the QRS interval duration by combining Illumina HumanExome BeadChip genotype data from 77,898 participants of European ancestry and 7695 of African descent in our discovery cohort, followed by replication in 111,874 individuals of European ancestry from the UK Biobank and deCODE cohorts. We identify ten novel loci, seven within coding regions, including ADAMTS6, significantly associated with QRS duration in gene-based analyses. ADAMTS6 encodes a secreted metalloprotease of currently unknown function. In vitro validation analysis shows that the QRS-associated variants lead to impaired ADAMTS6 secretion and loss-of function analysis in mice demonstrates a previously unappreciated role for ADAMTS6 in connexin 43 gap junction expression, which is essential for myocardial conduction.Our approach identifies novel coding and non-coding variants underlying ventricular depolarization and provides a possible mechanism for the ADAMTS6-associated conduction changes.

  View details for PubMedID 30012220

• Genome Editing of Induced PluripotentStem Cells to Decipher CardiacChannelopathy Variant. Journal of the American College of Cardiology Garg, P., Oikonomopoulos, A., Chen, H., Li, Y., Lam, C. K., Sallam, K., Perez, M., Lux, R. L., Sanguinetti, M. C., Wu, J. C. 2018; 72 (1): 62–75

  Abstract

  BACKGROUND: The long QT syndrome (LQTS) is an arrhythmogenic disorder of QT interval prolongation that predisposes patients to life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias such as Torsades de pointes and sudden cardiac death. Clinical genetic testing has emerged as the standard of care to identify genetic variants in patients suspected of having LQTS. However, these results are often confounded by the discovery of variants of uncertain significance (VUS), for which there is insufficient evidence of pathogenicity.OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to demonstrate that genome editing of patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) can be a valuable approach to delineate the pathogenicity of VUS in cardiac channelopathy.METHODS: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were isolated from a carrier with a novel missense variant (T983I) in the KCNH2 (LQT2) gene and an unrelated healthy control subject. iPSCs were generated using an integration-free Sendai virus and differentiated to iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes (CMs).RESULTS: Whole-cell patch clamp recordings revealed significant prolongation of the action potential duration (APD) and reduced rapidly activating delayed rectifier K+ current (IKr) density in VUS iPSC-CMs compared with healthy control iPSC-CMs. ICA-105574, a potent IKr activator, enhanced IKr magnitude and restored normal action potential duration in VUS iPSC-CMs. Notably, VUS iPSC-CMs exhibited greater propensity to proarrhythmia than healthy control cells in response to high-risk torsadogenic drugs (dofetilide, ibutilide, and azimilide), suggesting a compromised repolarization reserve. Finally, the selective correction of the causal variant in iPSC-CMs using CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing (isogenic control) normalized the aberrant cellular phenotype, whereas the introduction of the homozygous variant in healthy control cells recapitulated hallmark features of the LQTS disorder.CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that the KCNH2T983I VUS may be classified as potentially pathogenic.

  View details for PubMedID 29957233

• Thiazolidinediones and Risk of Atrial Fibrillation Among Patients with Diabetes and Coronary Disease AMERICAN JOURNAL OF MEDICINE Pallisgaard, J., Brooks, M., Chaitman, B. R., Boothroyd, D. B., Pere, M., Hlatk, M. A., Bypass Angioplasty Revascularizati 2018; 131 (7): 805–12

  Abstract

  We sought to determine whether insulin-sensitizing therapy (thiazolidinediones or metformin) decreased the risk of developing atrial fibrillation compared with insulin-providing therapy (insulin, sulfonylurea, or a meglitinide). Thiazolidinediones are insulin sensitizers that also decrease the inflammatory response. Because inflammation is a risk factor for atrial fibrillation, we hypothesized that treating diabetes with thiazolidinediones might decrease the risk of developing atrial fibrillation.The Bypass Angioplasty Revascularization Investigation 2 Diabetes (BARI 2D) trial enrolled patients with type 2 diabetes and documented coronary artery disease. All patients were randomized to insulin-sensitizing therapy or insulin-providing therapy.A total of 2319 patients entered the study, with 1160 assigned to the insulin-sensitization strategy and 1159 assigned to the insulin-provision strategy. Over a median follow-up of 4.2 years, 90 patients (3.9%) developed new-onset atrial fibrillation. In the intention-to-treat analysis, the incidence of atrial fibrillation was 8.7 per 1000 person-years in patients assigned to insulin sensitization compared with 9.5 in patients assigned to insulin provision with a hazard ratio (HR) of 0.91 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.60-1.38, P = .66). In a time-varying exposure analysis, the incidence rate per 1000 person-years was 7.2 while exposed to thiazolidinediones and 9.7 while not exposed to thiazolidinediones with an adjusted HR of 0.80 (95% CI, 0.33-1.94, P = .62). In a subset of patients matched on propensity to receive a thiazolidinediones, the HR was 0.75 (95% CI, 0.43-1.30, P = .30).We did not find a significant reduction of atrial fibrillation incidence with use of thiazolidinediones.

  View details for PubMedID 29581079

• Common and Rare Coding Genetic Variation Underlying the Electrocardiographic PR Interval. Circulation. Genomic and precision medicine Lin, H., van Setten, J., Smith, A. V., Bihlmeyer, N. A., Warren, H. R., Brody, J. A., Radmanesh, F., Hall, L., Grarup, N., Muller-Nurasyid, M., Boutin, T., Verweij, N., Lin, H. J., Li-Gao, R., van den Berg, M. E., Marten, J., Weiss, S., Prins, B. P., Haessler, J., Lyytikainen, L., Mei, H., Harris, T. B., Launer, L. J., Li, M., Alonso, A., Soliman, E. Z., Connell, J. M., Huang, P. L., Weng, L., Jameson, H. S., Hucker, W., Hanley, A., Tucker, N. R., Chen, Y. I., Bis, J. C., Rice, K. M., Sitlani, C. M., Kors, J. A., Xie, Z., Wen, C., Magnani, J. W., Nelson, C. P., Kanters, J. K., Sinner, M. F., Strauch, K., Peters, A., Waldenberger, M., Meitinger, T., Bork-Jensen, J., Pedersen, O., Linneberg, A., Rudan, I., de Boer, R. A., van der Meer, P., Yao, J., Guo, X., Taylor, K. D., Sotoodehnia, N., Rotter, J. I., Mook-Kanamori, D. O., Trompet, S., Rivadeneira, F., Uitterlinden, A., Eijgelsheim, M., Padmanabhan, S., Smith, B. H., Volzke, H., Felix, S. B., Homuth, G., Volker, U., Mangino, M., Spector, T. D., Bots, M. L., Perez, M., Kahonen, M., Raitakari, O. T., Gudnason, V., Arking, D. E., Munroe, P. B., Psaty, B. M., van Duijn, C. M., Benjamin, E. J., Rosand, J., Samani, N. J., Hansen, T., Kaab, S., Polasek, O., van der Harst, P., Heckbert, S. R., Jukema, J. W., Stricker, B. H., Hayward, C., Dorr, M., Jamshidi, Y., Asselbergs, F. W., Kooperberg, C., Lehtimaki, T., Wilson, J. G., Ellinor, P. T., Lubitz, S. A., Isaacs, A. 2018; 11 (5): e002037

  Abstract

  BACKGROUND: Electrical conduction from the cardiac sinoatrial node to the ventricles is critical for normal heart function. Genome-wide association studies have identified more than a dozen common genetic loci that are associated with PR interval. However, it is unclear whether rare and low-frequency variants also contribute to PR interval heritability.METHODS: We performed large-scale meta-analyses of the PR interval that included 83367 participants of European ancestry and 9436 of African ancestry. We examined both common and rare variants associated with the PR interval.RESULTS: We identified 31 genetic loci that were significantly associated with PR interval after Bonferroni correction (P<1.2*10-6), including 11 novel loci that have not been reported previously. Many of these loci are involved in heart morphogenesis. In gene-based analysis, we found that multiple rare variants at MYH6 (P=5.9*10-11) and SCN5A (P=1.1*10-7) were associated with PR interval. SCN5A locus also was implicated in the common variant analysis, whereas MYH6 was a novel locus.CONCLUSIONS: We identified common variants at 11 novel loci and rare variants within 2 gene regions that were significantly associated with PR interval. Our findings provide novel insights to the current understanding of atrioventricular conduction, which is critical for cardiac activity and an important determinant of health.

  View details for PubMedID 29748316

• Large Q and S waves in lead III on the electrocardiogram distinguish patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy from athletes. Heart (British Cardiac Society) Chen, A. S., Bent, R. E., Wheeler, M., Knowles, J. W., Haddad, F., Froelicher, V., Ashley, E., Perez, M. V. 2018

  Abstract

  OBJECTIVE: To identify electrocardiographic findings, especially deep Q and S waves in lead III, that differentiate athletes from patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM).METHODS: Digital ECGs of athletes and patients with HCM followed at the Stanford Center for Inherited Cardiovascular Disease were studied retrospectively. All patients with HCM had an echocardiogram performed. A multivariable logistic regression model was used to calculate ORs for various demographic and ECG characteristics. Linear regression was used to correlate ECG characteristics with echocardiogram findings.RESULTS: We studied 1124 athletes and 240 patients with HCM. The average Q+Swave amplitude in lead III (IIIQ+S) was significantly higher in patients with HCM compared with athletes (0.71±0.69mV vs 0.21±0.17mV, p<0.001). In patients with HCM, IIIQ+S directly correlated with interventricular septal (IVS) thickness on echocardiography (rho=0.45, p<0.001). In a multivariable analysis adjusted for demographic and ECG characteristics, higher IIIQ+S values remained independently associated with HCM compared with athletes (OR=4.2 per 0.5mV, p<0.001). In subgroup analyses of young patients, African-American subjects and subjects without left axis deviation (LAD), IIIQ+S remained associated with HCM. The addition of IIIQ+S>1.0 mV as an abnormal finding to the International Criteria for athletic ECG interpretation improved sensitivity from 64.2% to 70.4%, with a minimal decrease in specificity.CONCLUSION: Large Q and S waves in lead III distinguished athletes from patients with HCM, independent of axis and well-known ECG markers associated with HCM. The correlation between IVS thickness in patients with HCM and IIIQ+S suggests a partial explanation for this association.

  View details for PubMedID 29680808

• ExomeChip-Wide Analysis of 95 626 Individuals Identifies 10 Novel Loci Associated With QT and JT Intervals CIRCULATION-CARDIOVASCULAR GENETICS Bihlmeyer, N. A., Brody, J. A., Smith, A., Warren, H. R., Lin, H., Isaacs, A., Liu, C., Marten, J., Radmanesh, F., Hall, L. M., Grarup, N., Mei, H., Muller-Nurasyid, M., Huffman, J. E., Verweij, N., Guo, X., Yao, J., Li-Gao, R., van den Berg, M., Weiss, S., Prins, B. P., van Setten, J., Haessler, J., Lyytikainen, L., Li, M., Alonso, A., Soliman, E. Z., Bis, J. C., Austin, T., Chen, Y., Psaty, B. M., Harrris, T. B., Launer, L. J., Padmanabhan, S., Dominiczak, A., Huang, P. L., Xie, Z., Ellinor, P. T., Kors, J. A., Campbell, A., Murray, A. D., Nelson, C. P., Tobin, M. D., Bork-Jensen, J., Hansen, T., Pedersen, O., Linneberg, A., Sinner, M. F., Peters, A., Waldenberger, M., Meitinger, T., Perz, S., Kolcic, I., Rudan, I., de Boer, R. A., van der Meer, P., Lin, H. J., Taylor, K. D., de Mutsert, R., Trompet, S., Jukema, J., Maan, A. C., Stricker, B. C., Rivadeneira, F., Uitterlinden, A., Volker, U., Homuth, G., Volzke, H., Felix, S. B., Mangino, M., Spector, T. D., Bots, M. L., Perez, M., Raitakari, O. T., Kahonen, M., Mononen, N., Gudnason, V., Munroe, P. B., Lubitz, S. A., van Duijn, C. M., Newton-Cheh, C. H., Hayward, C., Rosand, J., Samani, N. J., Kanters, J. K., Wilson, J. G., Kaab, S., Polasek, O., van der Harst, P., Heckbert, S. R., Rotter, J. I., Mook-Kanamori, D. O., Eij-Gelsheim, M., Dorr, M., Jamshidi, Y., Asselbergs, F. W., Kooperberg, C., Lehtimaki, T., Arking, D. E., Sotoodehnia, N. 2018; 11 (1)

  View details for DOI 10.1161/CIRCGEN.117.001758

  View details for Web of Science ID 000428988100003

• Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery to displace the phrenic nerve during endocardial ablation of right atrial tachycardia. HeartRhythm case reports Mesquita, J., Bisla, J., Lee, A., Perez, M. 2018; 4 (7): 304–6

  View details for PubMedID 30023277

• Atrial Fibrillation Burden: Moving Beyond Atrial Fibrillation as a Binary Entity: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association. Circulation Chen, L. Y., Chung, M. K., Allen, L. A., Ezekowitz, M., Furie, K. L., McCabe, P., Noseworthy, P. A., Perez, M. V., Turakhia, M. P. 2018; 137 (20): e623–e644

  Abstract

  Our understanding of the risk factors and complications of atrial fibrillation (AF) is based mostly on studies that have evaluated AF in a binary fashion (present or absent) and have not investigated AF burden. This scientific statement discusses the published literature and knowledge gaps related to methods of defining and measuring AF burden, the relationship of AF burden to cardiovascular and neurological outcomes, and the effect of lifestyle and risk factor modification on AF burden. Many studies examine outcomes by AF burden classified by AF type (paroxysmal versus nonparoxysmal); however, quantitatively, AF burden can be defined by longest duration, number of AF episodes during a monitoring period, and the proportion of time an individual is in AF during a monitoring period (expressed as a percentage). Current guidelines make identical recommendations for anticoagulation regardless of AF pattern or burden; however, a review of recent evidence suggests that higher AF burden is associated with higher risk of stroke. It is unclear whether the risk increases continuously or whether a threshold exists; if a threshold exists, it has not been defined. Higher burden of AF is also associated with higher prevalence and incidence of heart failure and higher risk of mortality, but not necessarily lower quality of life. A structured and comprehensive risk factor management program targeting risk factors, weight loss, and maintenance of a healthy weight appears to be effective in reducing AF burden. Despite this growing understanding of AF burden, research is needed into validation of definitions and measures of AF burden, determination of the threshold of AF burden that results in an increased risk of stroke that warrants anticoagulation, and discovery of the mechanisms underlying the weak temporal correlations of AF and stroke. Moreover, developments in monitoring technologies will likely change the landscape of long-term AF monitoring and could allow better definition of the significance of changes in AF burden over time.

  View details for DOI 10.1161/CIR.0000000000000568

  View details for PubMedID 29661944

• Athletic Remodeling in Female College Athletes, the "Morganroth Hypothesis" Revisited. Clinical journal of sport medicine : official journal of the Canadian Academy of Sport Medicine Kooreman, Z., Giraldeau, G., Finocchiaro, G., Kobayashi, Y., Wheeler, M., Perez, M., Moneghetti, K., Oxborough, D., George, K. P., Myers, J., Ashley, E., Haddad, F. 2018

  Abstract

  There is limited data regarding ventricular remodeling in college female athletes, especially when appropriate scaling of cardiac dimensions to lean body mass (LBM) is considered. Moreover, it is not well established whether cardiac remodeling in female athletes is a balanced process with proportional increase in left ventricular (LV) mass and volume or the right and LV size.During the preparticipation competitive screening, 72 female college athletes volunteered to undergo dual energy x-ray absorptiometry scan for quantification of LBM and comprehensive 2D echocardiography including assessment of longitudinal myocardial strain. The athletes were divided in 2 groups according to the intensity of the dynamic and static components of their sport categories, ie, a higher intensity dynamic and resistive group (n = 37 participating in rowing, water polo and lacrosse) and a lower intensity group (n = 35, participating in short distance running, sailing, synchronized swimming, and softball). In addition, we recruited a group of 31 age-matched nonathlete controls.The mean age of the study population was 18.7 ± 1.0 years. When scaled to body surface area, the higher intensity group had 17.1 ± 3.6% (P < 0.001) greater LV mass when compared with the lower intensity group and 21.7 ± 4.0% (P < 0.001) greater LV mass than the control group. The differences persisted after scaling to LBM with 14.2 ± 3.2% (P < 0.001) greater LV mass in the higher intensity group. By contrast, there was no difference in any of the relative remodeling indices including the LV mass to volume ratio, right to LV area ratio, or left atrial to LV volume ratio (P > 0.50 for all). In addition, no significant difference was noted among the 3 groups in LV ejection fraction (P = 0.22), LV global longitudinal strain (P = 0.55), LV systolic strain rate (P = 0.62), or right ventricular global longitudinal strain (P = 0.61).Female collegiate athletes participating in higher intensity dynamic and resistive sports have higher indexed LV mass even when scaled to LBM. The remodeling process does however appear to be a balanced process not only at the intraventricular level but also at the interventricular and atrioventricular levels.

  View details for PubMedID 29369833

• Genome-wide association study of heart rate and its variability in Hispanic/Latino cohorts HEART RHYTHM Kerr, K. F., Avery, C. L., Lin, H. J., Raffield, L. M., Zhang, Q. S., Browning, B. L., Browning, S. R., Conomos, M. P., Gogarten, S. M., Laurie, C. C., Sofer, T., Thornton, T. A., Hohensee, C., Jackson, R. D., Kooperberg, C., Li, Y., Mendez-Giraldez, R., Perez, M. V., Peters, U., Reiner, A. P., Zhang, Z., Yao, J., Sotoodehnia, N., Taylor, K. D., Guo, X., Lange, L. A., Soliman, E. Z., Wilson, J. G., Rotter, J. I., Heckbert, S. R., Jain, D., Whitsel, E. A. 2017; 14 (11): 1675–84

  Abstract

  Although time-domain measures of heart rate variability (HRV) are used to estimate cardiac autonomic tone and disease risk in multiethnic populations, the genetic epidemiology of HRV in Hispanics/Latinos has not been characterized.The purpose of this study was to conduct a genome-wide association study of heart rate (HR) and its variability in the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos, Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, and Women's Health Initiative Hispanic SNP-Health Association Resource project (n = 13,767).We estimated HR (bpm), standard deviation of normal-to-normal interbeat intervals (SDNN, ms), and root mean squared difference in successive, normal-to-normal interbeat intervals (RMSSD, ms) from resting, standard 12-lead ECGs. We estimated associations between each phenotype and 17 million genotyped or imputed single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), accounting for relatedness and adjusting for age, sex, study site, and ancestry. Cohort-specific estimates were combined using fixed-effects, inverse-variance meta-analysis. We investigated replication for select SNPs exceeding genome-wide (P <5 × 10-8) or suggestive (P <10-6) significance thresholds.Two genome-wide significant SNPs replicated in a European ancestry cohort, 1 one for RMSSD (rs4963772; chromosome 12) and another for SDNN (rs12982903; chromosome 19). A suggestive SNP for HR (rs236352; chromosome 6) replicated in an African-American cohort. Functional annotation of replicated SNPs in cardiac and neuronal tissues identified potentially causal variants and mechanisms.This first genome-wide association study of HRV and HR in Hispanics/Latinos underscores the potential for even modestly sized samples of non-European ancestry to inform the genetic epidemiology of complex traits.

  View details for PubMedID 28610988

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC5671896

• Large-scale analyses of common and rare variants identify 12 new loci associated with atrial fibrillation. Nature genetics Christophersen, I. E., Rienstra, M., Roselli, C., Yin, X., Geelhoed, B., Barnard, J., Lin, H., Arking, D. E., Smith, A. V., Albert, C. M., Chaffin, M., Tucker, N. R., Li, M., Klarin, D., Bihlmeyer, N. A., Low, S., Weeke, P. E., Müller-Nurasyid, M., Smith, J. G., Brody, J. A., Niemeijer, M. N., Dörr, M., Trompet, S., Huffman, J., Gustafsson, S., Schurmann, C., Kleber, M. E., Lyytikäinen, L., Seppälä, I., Malik, R., Horimoto, A. R., Perez, M., Sinisalo, J., Aeschbacher, S., Thériault, S., Yao, J., Radmanesh, F., Weiss, S., Teumer, A., Choi, S. H., Weng, L., Clauss, S., Deo, R., Rader, D. J., Shah, S. H., Sun, A., Hopewell, J. C., Debette, S., Chauhan, G., Yang, Q., Worrall, B. B., Paré, G., Kamatani, Y., Hagemeijer, Y. P., Verweij, N., Siland, J. E., Kubo, M., Smith, J. D., Van Wagoner, D. R., Bis, J. C., Perz, S., Psaty, B. M., Ridker, P. M., Magnani, J. W., Harris, T. B., Launer, L. J., Shoemaker, M. B., Padmanabhan, S., Haessler, J., Bartz, T. M., Waldenberger, M., Lichtner, P., Arendt, M., Krieger, J. E., Kähönen, M., Risch, L., Mansur, A. J., Peters, A., Smith, B. H., Lind, L., Scott, S. A., Lu, Y., Bottinger, E. B., Hernesniemi, J., Lindgren, C. M., Wong, J. A., Huang, J., Eskola, M., Morris, A. P., Ford, I., Reiner, A. P., Delgado, G., Chen, L. Y., Chen, Y. I., Sandhu, R. K., Li, M., Boerwinkle, E., Eisele, L., Lannfelt, L., Rost, N., Anderson, C. D., Taylor, K. D., Campbell, A., Magnusson, P. K., Porteous, D., Hocking, L. J., Vlachopoulou, E., Pedersen, N. L., Nikus, K., Orho-Melander, M., Hamsten, A., Heeringa, J., Denny, J. C., Kriebel, J., Darbar, D., Newton-Cheh, C., Shaffer, C., Macfarlane, P. W., Heilmann-Heimbach, S., Almgren, P., Huang, P. L., Sotoodehnia, N., Soliman, E. Z., Uitterlinden, A. G., Hofman, A., Franco, O. H., Völker, U., Jöckel, K., Sinner, M. F., Lin, H. J., Guo, X., Dichgans, M., Ingelsson, E., Kooperberg, C., Melander, O., Loos, R. J., Laurikka, J., Conen, D., Rosand, J., van der Harst, P., Lokki, M., Kathiresan, S., Pereira, A., Jukema, J. W., Hayward, C., Rotter, J. I., März, W., Lehtimäki, T., Stricker, B. H., Chung, M. K., Felix, S. B., Gudnason, V., Alonso, A., Roden, D. M., Kääb, S., Chasman, D. I., Heckbert, S. R., Benjamin, E. J., Tanaka, T., Lunetta, K. L., Lubitz, S. A., Ellinor, P. T. 2017; 49 (6): 946-952

  Abstract

  Atrial fibrillation affects more than 33 million people worldwide and increases the risk of stroke, heart failure, and death. Fourteen genetic loci have been associated with atrial fibrillation in European and Asian ancestry groups. To further define the genetic basis of atrial fibrillation, we performed large-scale, trans-ancestry meta-analyses of common and rare variant association studies. The genome-wide association studies (GWAS) included 17,931 individuals with atrial fibrillation and 115,142 referents; the exome-wide association studies (ExWAS) and rare variant association studies (RVAS) involved 22,346 cases and 132,086 referents. We identified 12 new genetic loci that exceeded genome-wide significance, implicating genes involved in cardiac electrical and structural remodeling. Our results nearly double the number of known genetic loci for atrial fibrillation, provide insights into the molecular basis of atrial fibrillation, and may facilitate the identification of new potential targets for drug discovery.

  View details for DOI 10.1038/ng.3843

  View details for PubMedID 28416818

• Left atrial function and phenotypes in asymmetric hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Echocardiography (Mount Kisco, N.Y.) Kobayashi, Y., Wheeler, M., Finocchiaro, G., Ariyama, M., Kobayashi, Y., Perez, M. V., Liang, D., Kuznetsova, T., Schnittger, I., Ashley, E., Haddad, F. 2017

  Abstract

  Few studies have analyzed changes in left atrial (LA) function associated with different phenotypes of asymmetric hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). We sought to demonstrate the association of impairments in LA function with disease phenotype in patients with obstructive and nonobstructive HCM.From Stanford Cardiomyopathy Registry, we randomly selected 50 age-/sex-matched healthy controls, 35 patients with nonobstructive HCM (HCM 1), 35 patients with obstructive HCM (HCM 2), and 35 patients with obstructive HCM requiring septal reduction therapy (HCM 3). Echocardiography was performed to evaluate left ventricular (LV) strain as well as LA function including LA emptying fraction and LA strain.The mean age was 51±14 years and 57% were male. LA volume index differed among all four predefined groups (25.6±6.7 mL/m(2) in controls, 32.2±13.3 mL/m(2) in HCM 1, 42.0±12.9 mL/m(2) in HCM 2, 52.4±15.2 mL/m(2) for HCM 3, and P<.05 all between groups). All measurement of LA function was impaired in patients with HCM than controls. Total and passive LA function was further impaired in HCM 2 or 3 compared with HCM 1, while active LA function was not different among the three groups. Among LV strains, only septal longitudinal strain differed among all groups (-18.5±1.9% in controls, -14.5±1.9% in HCM 1, -13.3±1.8% in HCM 2, -11.6±2.3% in HCM 3, and P<.05 all between groups).LA function was impaired in patients with HCM even in minimally symptomatic nonobstructive phenotype. Total and passive LA function was further impaired in patients with obstructive HCM.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/echo.13533

  View details for PubMedID 28370331

• International criteria for electrocardiographic interpretation in athletes. British journal of sports medicine Drezner, J. A., Sharma, S., Baggish, A., Papadakis, M., Wilson, M. G., Prutkin, J. M., Gerche, A. L., Ackerman, M. J., Borjesson, M., Salerno, J. C., Asif, I. M., Owens, D. S., Chung, E. H., Emery, M. S., Froelicher, V. F., Heidbuchel, H., Adamuz, C., Asplund, C. A., Cohen, G., Harmon, K. G., Marek, J. C., Molossi, S., Niebauer, J., Pelto, H. F., Perez, M. V., Riding, N. R., Saarel, T., Schmied, C. M., Shipon, D. M., Stein, R., Vetter, V. L., Pelliccia, A., Corrado, D. 2017

  Abstract

  Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is the leading cause of mortality in athletes during sport. A variety of mostly hereditary, structural or electrical cardiac disorders are associated with SCD in young athletes, the majority of which can be identified or suggested by abnormalities on a resting 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG). Whether used for diagnostic or screening purposes, physicians responsible for the cardiovascular care of athletes should be knowledgeable and competent in ECG interpretation in athletes. However, in most countries a shortage of physician expertise limits wider application of the ECG in the care of the athlete. A critical need exists for physician education in modern ECG interpretation that distinguishes normal physiological adaptations in athletes from distinctly abnormal findings suggestive of underlying pathology. Since the original 2010 European Society of Cardiology recommendations for ECG interpretation in athletes, ECG standards have evolved quickly, advanced by a growing body of scientific data and investigations that both examine proposed criteria sets and establish new evidence to guide refinements. On 26-27 February 2015, an international group of experts in sports cardiology, inherited cardiac disease, and sports medicine convened in Seattle, Washington (USA), to update contemporary standards for ECG interpretation in athletes. The objective of the meeting was to define and revise ECG interpretation standards based on new and emerging research and to develop a clear guide to the proper evaluation of ECG abnormalities in athletes. This statement represents an international consensus for ECG interpretation in athletes and provides expert opinion-based recommendations linking specific ECG abnormalities and the secondary evaluation for conditions associated with SCD.

  View details for DOI 10.1136/bjsports-2016-097331

  View details for PubMedID 28258178

• The Associations of Atrial Fibrillation With the Risks of Incident Invasive Breast and Colorectal Cancers AMERICAN JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY Wassertheil-Smoller, S., McGinn, A. P., Martin, L., Rodriguez, B. L., Stefanick, M. L., Perez, M. 2017; 185 (5): 372-384

  View details for DOI 10.1093/aje/kww185

  View details for Web of Science ID 000397245800007

• International Recommendations for Electrocardiographic Interpretation in Athletes JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF CARDIOLOGY Sharma, S., Drezner, J. A., Baggish, A., Papadakis, M., Wilson, M. G., Prutkin, J. M., La Gerche, A., Ackerman, M. J., Borjesson, M., Salerno, J. C., Asif, I. M., Owens, D. S., Chung, E. H., Emery, M. S., Froelicher, V. F., Heidbuchel, H., Adamuz, C., Asplund, C. A., Cohen, G., Harmon, K. G., Marek, J. C., Molossi, S., Niebauer, J., Pelto, H. F., Perez, M. V., Riding, N. R., Saarel, T., Schmied, C. M., Shipon, D. M., Stein, R., Vetter, V. L., Pelliccia, A., Corrado, D. 2017; 69 (8): 1057-1075

  Abstract

  Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is the leading cause of mortality in athletes during sport. A variety of mostly hereditary, structural, or electrical cardiac disorders are associated with SCD in young athletes, the majority of which can be identified or suggested by abnormalities on a resting 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG). Whether used for diagnostic or screening purposes, physicians responsible for the cardiovascular care of athletes should be knowledgeable and competent in ECG interpretation in athletes. However, in most countries a shortage of physician expertise limits wider application of the ECG in the care of the athlete. A critical need exists for physician education in modern ECG interpretation that distinguishes normal physiological adaptations in athletes from distinctly abnormal findings suggestive of underlying pathology. Since the original 2010 European Society of Cardiology recommendations for ECG interpretation in athletes, ECG standards have evolved quickly over the last decade; pushed by a growing body of scientific data that both tests proposed criteria sets and establishes new evidence to guide refinements. On 26-27 February 2015, an international group of experts in sports cardiology, inherited cardiac disease, and sports medicine convened in Seattle, Washington, to update contemporary standards for ECG interpretation in athletes. The objective of the meeting was to define and revise ECG interpretation standards based on new and emerging research and to develop a clear guide to the proper evaluation of ECG abnormalities in athletes. This statement represents an international consensus for ECG interpretation in athletes and provides expert opinion-based recommendations linking specific ECG abnormalities and the secondary evaluation for conditions associated with SCD.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jacc.2017.01.015

  View details for PubMedID 28329355

• International Recommendations for Electrocardiographic Interpretation in Athletes. Journal of the American College of Cardiology Sharma, S., Drezner, J. A., Baggish, A., Papadakis, M., Wilson, M. G., Prutkin, J. M., La Gerche, A., Ackerman, M. J., Borjesson, M., Salerno, J. C., Asif, I. M., Owens, D. S., Chung, E. H., Emery, M. S., Froelicher, V. F., Heidbuchel, H., Adamuz, C., Asplund, C. A., Cohen, G., Harmon, K. G., Marek, J. C., Molossi, S., Niebauer, J., Pelto, H. F., Perez, M. V., Riding, N. R., Saarel, T., Schmied, C. M., Shipon, D. M., Stein, R., Vetter, V. L., Pelliccia, A., Corrado, D. 2017; 69 (8): 1057-1075

  Abstract

  Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is the leading cause of mortality in athletes during sport. A variety of mostly hereditary, structural, or electrical cardiac disorders are associated with SCD in young athletes, the majority of which can be identified or suggested by abnormalities on a resting 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG). Whether used for diagnostic or screening purposes, physicians responsible for the cardiovascular care of athletes should be knowledgeable and competent in ECG interpretation in athletes. However, in most countries a shortage of physician expertise limits wider application of the ECG in the care of the athlete. A critical need exists for physician education in modern ECG interpretation that distinguishes normal physiological adaptations in athletes from distinctly abnormal findings suggestive of underlying pathology. Since the original 2010 European Society of Cardiology recommendations for ECG interpretation in athletes, ECG standards have evolved quickly over the last decade; pushed by a growing body of scientific data that both tests proposed criteria sets and establishes new evidence to guide refinements. On February 26-27, 2015, an international group of experts in sports cardiology, inherited cardiac disease, and sports medicine convened in Seattle, Washington, to update contemporary standards for ECG interpretation in athletes. The objective of the meeting was to define and revise ECG interpretation standards based on new and emerging research and to develop a clear guide to the proper evaluation of ECG abnormalities in athletes. This statement represents an international consensus for ECG interpretation in athletes and provides expert opinion-based recommendations linking specific ECG abnormalities and the secondary evaluation for conditions associated with SCD.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jacc.2017.01.015

  View details for PubMedID 28231933

• Orexin: a Missing Link Between Sleep Disorders and Heart Failure? Current heart failure reports Pan, S., Cabral, C. S., Ashley, E. A., Perez, M. V. 2017

  Abstract

  Sleep disorders represent a significant comorbidity in the heart failure population, and there is mounting evidence that treatment of sleep disorders such as obstructive sleep apnea can significantly improve cardiac function. However, the link between these two disorders is still not entirely clear.Recently, a novel neurohormonal pathway has been elucidated involving signaling molecules now collectively known as the orexins, which have been implicated in regulating autonomic function during sleep/wake cycles. Further evidence has mounted that orexin signaling is deeply perturbed in the setting of sleep disorders, and furthermore that abnormal orexin signaling may be implicated in the pathology of heart failure. The orexin signaling pathway represents an enticing novel target for both the treatment of sleep disorders as well as heart failure, and may represent one facet of the "missing link" between these two prevalent and often comorbid diseases.

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s11897-017-0322-3

  View details for PubMedID 28215031

• Safety and Clinical Outcomes of Catheter Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation in Patients With Chronic Kidney Disease JOURNAL OF CARDIOVASCULAR ELECTROPHYSIOLOGY Ullal, A. J., Kaiser, D. W., Fan, J., Schmitt, S. K., Than, C. T., Winkelmayer, W. C., Heidenreich, P. A., Piccini, J. P., Perez, M. V., Wang, P. J., Turakhia, M. P. 2017; 28 (1): 39-48

  Abstract

  Data regarding catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF) in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) is limited. We therefore assessed the association of CKD with common safety and clinical outcomes in a nationwide sample of ablation recipients.Using MarketScan(®) Commercial Claims and Medicare Supplemental Databases, we evaluated 30-day safety and 1-year clinical outcomes in patients who underwent a first AF ablation procedure between 2007 and 2011. We calculated frequency of common 30-day complications and calculated frequencies, incidence rates, and Cox proportional hazards for outcomes at 1-year postablation.Of 21,091 patients included, 1,593 (7.6%) had CKD. Patients with CKD were older (64 years vs. 59 years, P < 0.001) with higher CHA2 DS2 -VASc scores (3.2 vs. 1.8, P < 0.001). At 30 days postablation, patients with CKD had similar rates of stroke/TIA (0.13% vs. 0.13%, P = 0.99), perforation/tamponade (3.2% vs. 3.1%, P = 0.83), and vascular complications (2.4% vs. 2.2%, P = 0.59) as patients without CKD, but were more likely to be hospitalized for heart failure (2.1% vs. 0.4%, P < 0.001). In multivariate analysis, there were no significant differences in hazards of AF hospitalization (adjusted HR: 1.02, 95%CI: 0.87-1.20), cardioversion (adjusted HR: 0.99, 95%CI: 0.87-1.12), or repeat AF ablation (adjusted HR: 0.89, 95%CI: 0.76-1.06) at 1 year.Among patients selected for AF ablation, those with and without CKD had similar rates of postprocedural complications although they were more likely to be re-admitted for heart failure. CKD was not independently associated with AF hospitalization, cardioversion, and repeat ablation. These findings can inform clinical decision-making in patients with AF and CKD.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/jce.13118

  View details for Web of Science ID 000393901900004

• The Expressed Genome in Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke: Refinement, Diagnosis, and Prediction: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association. Circulation. Cardiovascular genetics Musunuru, K., Ingelsson, E., Fornage, M., Liu, P., Murphy, A. M., Newby, L. K., Newton-Cheh, C., Perez, M. V., Voora, D., Woo, D. 2017; 10 (4)

  Abstract

  There have been major advances in our knowledge of the contribution of DNA sequence variations to cardiovascular disease and stroke. However, the inner workings of the body reflect the complex interplay of factors beyond the DNA sequence, including epigenetic modifications, RNA transcripts, proteins, and metabolites, which together can be considered the "expressed genome." The emergence of high-throughput technologies, including epigenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics, is now making it possible to address the contributions of the expressed genome to cardiovascular disorders. This statement describes how the expressed genome can currently and, in the future, potentially be used to diagnose diseases and to predict who will develop diseases such as coronary artery disease, stroke, heart failure, and arrhythmias.

  View details for DOI 10.1161/HCG.0000000000000037

  View details for PubMedID 28760750

• Early somatic mosaicism is a rare cause of long-QT syndrome PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Priest, J. R., Gawad, C., Kahlig, K. M., Yu, J. K., O'Hara, T., Boyle, P. M., Rajamani, S., Clark, M. J., Garcia, S. T., Ceresnak, S., Harris, J., Boyle, S., Dewey, F. E., Malloy-Walton, L., Dunn, K., Grove, M., Perez, M. V., Neff, N. F., Chen, R., Maeda, K., Dubin, A., Belardinelli, L., West, J., Antolik, C., Macaya, D., Quertermous, T., Trayanova, N. A., Quake, S. R., Ashley, E. A. 2016; 113 (41): 11555-11560

  Abstract

  Somatic mosaicism, the occurrence and propagation of genetic variation in cell lineages after fertilization, is increasingly recognized to play a causal role in a variety of human diseases. We investigated the case of life-threatening arrhythmia in a 10-day-old infant with long QT syndrome (LQTS). Rapid genome sequencing suggested a variant in the sodium channel NaV1.5 encoded by SCN5A, NM_000335:c.5284G > T predicting p.(V1762L), but read depth was insufficient to be diagnostic. Exome sequencing of the trio confirmed read ratios inconsistent with Mendelian inheritance only in the proband. Genotyping of single circulating leukocytes demonstrated the mutation in the genomes of 8% of patient cells, and RNA sequencing of cardiac tissue from the infant confirmed the expression of the mutant allele at mosaic ratios. Heterologous expression of the mutant channel revealed significantly delayed sodium current with a dominant negative effect. To investigate the mechanism by which mosaicism might cause arrhythmia, we built a finite element simulation model incorporating Purkinje fiber activation. This model confirmed the pathogenic consequences of cardiac cellular mosaicism and, under the presenting conditions of this case, recapitulated 2:1 AV block and arrhythmia. To investigate the extent to which mosaicism might explain undiagnosed arrhythmia, we studied 7,500 affected probands undergoing commercial gene-panel testing. Four individuals with pathogenic variants arising from early somatic mutation events were found. Here we establish cardiac mosaicism as a causal mechanism for LQTS and present methods by which the general phenomenon, likely to be relevant for all genetic diseases, can be detected through single-cell analysis and next-generation sequencing.

  View details for DOI 10.1073/pnas.1607187113

  View details for PubMedID 27681629

• The associations of leptin, adiponectin and resistin with incident atrial fibrillation in women. Heart Ermakov, S., Azarbal, F., Stefanick, M. L., LaMonte, M. J., Li, W., Tharp, K. M., Martin, L. W., Nassir, R., Salmoirago-Blotcher, E., Albert, C. M., Manson, J. E., Assimes, T. L., Hlatky, M. A., Larson, J. C., Perez, M. V. 2016; 102 (17): 1354-1362

  Abstract

  Higher body mass index (BMI) is an important risk factor for atrial fibrillation (AF). The adipokines leptin, adiponectin and resistin are correlates of BMI, but their association with incident AF is not well known. We explored this relationship in a large cohort of postmenopausal women.We studied an ethnically diverse cohort of community-dwelling postmenopausal women aged 50-79 who were nationally recruited at 40 clinical centres as part of the Women's Health Initiative investigation. Participants underwent measurements of baseline serum leptin, adiponectin and resistin levels and were followed for incident AF. Adipokine levels were log transformed and normalised using inverse probability weighting. Cox proportional hazard regression models were used to estimate associations with adjustment for known AF risk factors.Of the 4937 participants included, 892 developed AF over a follow-up of 11.1 years. Those with AF had higher mean leptin (14.9 pg/mL vs 13.9 pg/mL), adiponectin (26.3 ug/mL vs 24.5 ug/mL) and resistin (12.9 ng/mL vs 12.1 ng/mL) levels. After multivariable adjustment, neither log leptin nor log adiponectin levels were significantly associated with incident AF. However, log resistin levels remained significantly associated with incident AF (HR=1.57 per 1 log (ng/mL) increase, p=0.006). Additional adjustment for inflammatory cytokines only partially attenuated the association between resistin and incident AF (HR=1.43, p=0.06 adjusting for C-reactive protein (CRP); HR=1.39, p=0.08 adjusting for IL-6). Adjusting for resistin partially attenuated the association between BMI and incident AF (HR=1.14 per 5 kg/m(2), p=0.006 without resistin; HR=1.12, p=0.02 with resistin).In women, elevated levels of serum resistin are significantly associated with higher rates of incident AF and partially mediate the association between BMI and AF. In the same population, leptin and adiponectin levels are not significantly associated with AF.

  View details for DOI 10.1136/heartjnl-2015-308927

  View details for PubMedID 27146694

• Whole Exome Sequencing in Atrial Fibrillation PLOS GENETICS Lubitz, S. A., Brody, J. A., Bihlmeyer, N. A., Roselli, C., Weng, L., Christophersen, I. E., Alonso, A., Boerwinkle, E., Gibbs, R. A., Bis, J. C., Cupples, L. A., Mohler, P. J., Nickerson, D. A., Muzny, D., Perez, M. V., Psaty, B. M., Soliman, E. Z., Sotoodehnia, N., Lunetta, K. L., Benjamin, E. J., Heckbert, S. R., Arking, D. E., Ellinor, P. T., Lin, H. 2016; 12 (9)

  Abstract

  Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a morbid and heritable arrhythmia. Over 35 genes have been reported to underlie AF, most of which were described in small candidate gene association studies. Replication remains lacking for most, and therefore the contribution of coding variation to AF susceptibility remains poorly understood. We examined whole exome sequencing data in a large community-based sample of 1,734 individuals with and 9,423 without AF from the Framingham Heart Study, Cardiovascular Health Study, Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study, and NHLBI-GO Exome Sequencing Project and meta-analyzed the results. We also examined whether genetic variation was enriched in suspected AF genes (N = 37) in AF cases versus controls. The mean age ranged from 59 to 73 years; 8,656 (78%) were of European ancestry. None of the 99,404 common variants evaluated was significantly associated after adjusting for multiple testing. Among the most significantly associated variants was a common (allele frequency = 86%) missense variant in SYNPO2L (rs3812629, p.Pro707Leu, [odds ratio 1.27, 95% confidence interval 1.13-1.43, P = 6.6x10-5]) which lies at a known AF susceptibility locus and is in linkage disequilibrium with a top marker from prior analyses at the locus. We did not observe significant associations between rare variants and AF in gene-based tests. Individuals with AF did not display any statistically significant enrichment for common or rare coding variation in previously implicated AF genes. In conclusion, we did not observe associations between coding genetic variants and AF, suggesting that large-effect coding variation is not the predominant mechanism underlying AF. A coding variant in SYNPO2L requires further evaluation to determine whether it is causally related to AF. Efforts to identify biologically meaningful coding variation underlying AF may require large sample sizes or populations enriched for large genetic effects.

  View details for DOI 10.1371/journal.pgen.1006284

  View details for PubMedID 27589061

• Optimizing QT Interval Measurement for the Preparticipation Screening of Young Athletes. Medicine and science in sports and exercise Pickham, D., Hsu, D., Soofi, M., Goldberg, J. M., Saini, D., Hadley, D., Perez, M., Froelicher, V. F. 2016; 48 (9): 1745-1750

  Abstract

  Sudden cardiac death is the leading cause of death in athletes. Long QT syndrome (LQTS) is one of the most common cardiogenetic diseases that can lead to sudden cardiac death and is identified by QT interval prolongation on an ECG. Recommendations for QT monitoring in athletes are adopted from nonathlete populations. To improve screening, ECG data of athletes are assessed to determine a more appropriate method for QT interval estimation.ECG (CardeaScreen) data were collected from June 2010 to March 2015. ECG data with HR greater than 100 bpm were excluded. Fiducial points of outliers were manually corrected if the QRS onset or the T wave offset was misidentified. A model of best fit was determined and compared across four QT correction factors. Classification analysis was used to compare the Bazett's corrected QT interval to the 99th percentile of uncorrected QT interval.High school (n = 597), college (n = 1207), and professional athletes (n = 273) (N = 2077) were analyzed. Mean age was 19 ± 3.5 yr. QT interval varied by cohort (HS = 388 ± 30, Col = 410 ± 33, Pro = 407 ± 27, p < 0.0001). A nonlinear power function with a cubic exponent of -0.349 fit the data the best (R = 0.64). Of the four common correction factors, Fridericia had the lowest residual dependence to HR (m = -0.10). With standard screening, 75% of athletes within the top 1% for QT interval were not identified for further investigation for LQTS.Up to 75% of athletes possessing an uncorrected QT interval greater than 99% of the population are not identified for investigation for LQTS using the recommended criteria. We propose a new method of risk stratification that replaces QT interval correction. Further study is needed to establish QT interval distributions and risk thresholds in athletes.

  View details for DOI 10.1249/MSS.0000000000000962

  View details for PubMedID 27116644

• Racial and ethnic differences in atrial fibrillation risk factors and predictors in women: Findings from the Women's Health Initiative AMERICAN HEART JOURNAL Rodriguez, F., Stefanick, M. L., Greenland, P., Soliman, E. Z., Manson, J. E., Parikh, N., Martin, L. W., Larson, J. C., Hlatky, M., Nassir, R., Cene, C. W., Rodriguez, B. L., Albert, C., Perez, M. V. 2016; 176: 70-77

  Abstract

  The incidence of atrial fibrillation (AF) is higher in non-Hispanic whites (NHWs) compared with other race-ethnic groups, despite more favorable cardiovascular risk profiles. To explore reasons for this paradox, we compared the hazards of AF from traditional and other risk factors between 4 race-ethnic groups in a large cohort of postmenopausal women.We included 114,083 NHWs, 11,876 African Americans, 5,174 Hispanics, and 3,803 Asians from the Women's Health Initiative free of AF at baseline. Women, averaging 63 years old, were followed up for incident AF using hospitalization records and diagnostic codes from Medicare claims.Over a mean of 13.7 years, 19,712 incident cases of AF were recorded. Despite a higher burden of hypertension, diabetes, and obesity, annual AF incidence was lower among nonwhites (0.7%, 0.4%, and 0.4% for African American, Hispanic, and Asian participants, respectively, compared with 1.2% for NHWs). The hazards of AF from hypertension, diabetes, obesity, heart failure, and coronary artery disease were similar across race-ethnic groups. Major risk factors, including hypertension, obesity, diabetes, smoking, peripheral arterial disease, coronary artery disease, and heart failure, accounted for an attributable risk of 50.3% in NHWs, 83.1% in African Americans, 65.6% in Hispanics, and 37.4% in Asians. Established AF prediction models performed comparably across race-ethnic groups.In this large study of postmenopausal women, traditional cardiovascular risk factors conferred a similar degree of individual risk of AF among 4 race-ethnic groups. However, major AF risk factors conferred a higher-attributable risk in African Americans and Hispanics compared with NHWs and Asians.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.ahj.2016.03.004

  View details for Web of Science ID 000377472000013

  View details for PubMedID 27264222

• Lean body mass and risk of incident atrial fibrillation in post-menopausal women EUROPEAN HEART JOURNAL Azarbal, F., Stefanick, M. L., Assimes, T. L., Manson, J. E., Bea, J. W., Li, W., Hlatky, M. A., Larson, J. C., LeBlanc, E. S., Albert, C. M., Nassir, R., Martin, L. W., Perez, M. V. 2016; 37 (20): 1606-1613

  Abstract

  High body mass index (BMI) is a risk factor for atrial fibrillation (AF). The aim of this study was to determine whether lean body mass (LBM) predicts AF.The Women's Health Initiative is a study of post-menopausal women aged 50-79 enrolled at 40 US centres from 1994 to 1998. A subset of 11 393 participants at three centres underwent dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Baseline demographics and clinical histories were recorded. Incident AF was identified using hospitalization records and diagnostic codes from Medicare claims. A multivariable Cox hazard regression model adjusted for demographic and clinical risk factors was used to evaluate associations between components of body composition and AF risk. After exclusion for prevalent AF or incomplete data, 8832 participants with an average age of 63.3 years remained for analysis. Over the 11.6 years of average follow-up time, 1035 women developed incident AF. After covariate adjustment, all measures of LBM were independently associated with higher rates of AF: total LBM [hazard ratio (HR) 1.24 per 5 kg increase, 95% confidence intervals (CI) 1.14-1.34], central LBM (HR 1.51 per 5 kg increase, 95% CI 1.31-1.74), and peripheral LBM (HR 1.39 per 5 kg increase, 95% CI 1.19-1.63). The association between total LBM and AF remained significant after adjustment for total fat mass (HR 1.22 per 5 kg increase, 95% CI 1.13-1.31).Greater LBM is a strong independent risk factor for AF. After adjusting for obesity-related risk factors, the risk of AF conferred by higher BMI is primarily driven by the association between LBM and AF.

  View details for DOI 10.1093/eurheartj/ehv423

  View details for Web of Science ID 000376168100013

  View details for PubMedID 26371115

• Systems Genomics Identifies a Key Role for Hypocretin/Orexin Receptor-2 in Human Heart Failure JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF CARDIOLOGY Perez, M. V., Pavlovic, A., Shang, C., Wheeler, M. T., Miller, C. L., Liu, J., Dewey, F. E., Pan, S., Thanaporn, P. K., Absher, D., Brandimarto, J., Salisbury, H., Chan, K., Mukherjee, R., Konadhode, R. P., Myers, R. M., Sedehi, D., Scammell, T. E., Quertermous, T., Cappola, T., Ashley, E. A. 2015; 66 (22): 2522-2533

  Abstract

  The genetic determinants of heart failure (HF) and response to medical therapy remain unknown. We hypothesized that identifying genetic variants of HF that associate with response to medical therapy would elucidate the genetic basis of cardiac function.This study sought to identify genetic variations associated with response to HF therapy.This study compared extremes of response to medical therapy in 866 HF patients using a genome-wide approach that informed the systems-based design of a customized single nucleotide variant array. The effect of genotype on gene expression was measured using allele-specific luciferase reporter assays. Candidate gene transcription-deficient mice underwent echocardiography and treadmill exercise. The ability of the target gene agonist to rescue mice from chemically-induced HF was assessed with echocardiography.Of 866 HF patients, 136 had an ejection fraction improvement of 20% attributed to resynchronization (n = 83), revascularization (n = 7), tachycardia resolution (n = 2), alcohol cessation (n = 1), or medications (n = 43). Those with the minor allele for rs7767652, upstream of hypocretin (orexin) receptor-2 (HCRTR2), were less likely to have improved left ventricular function (odds ratio: 0.40 per minor allele; p = 3.29 × 10(-5)). In a replication cohort of 798 patients, those with a minor allele for rs7767652 had a lower prevalence of ejection fraction >35% (odds ratio: 0.769 per minor allele; p = 0.021). In an HF model, HCRTR2-deficient mice exhibited poorer cardiac function, worse treadmill exercise capacity, and greater myocardial scarring. Orexin, an HCRTR2 agonist, rescued function in this HF mouse model.A systems approach identified a novel genetic contribution to human HF and a promising therapeutic agent efficacious in an HF model.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jacc.2015.09.061

  View details for Web of Science ID 000366094500009

  View details for PubMedID 26653627

• Long-Term Prognosis of Early Repolarization With J-Wave and QRS Slur Patterns on the Resting Electrocardiogram: A Cohort Study. Annals of internal medicine Pargaonkar, V. S., Perez, M. V., Jindal, A., Mathur, M. B., Myers, J., Froelicher, V. F. 2015; 163 (10): 747-755

  Abstract

  The prognostic value of early repolarization with J waves and QRS slurs remains controversial. Although these findings are more prevalent in patients with idiopathic ventricular fibrillation, their ability to predict cardiovascular death has varied across studies.To test the hypothesis that J waves and QRS slurs on electrocardiograms (ECGs) are associated with increased risk for cardiovascular death.Retrospective cohort.Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System.Veterans younger than 56 years who had resting 12-lead electrocardiography, 90.5% of whom were men.Electrocardiograms were manually measured and visually coded using criteria of 0.1 mV or greater in at least 2 contiguous leads. J waves were measured at the peak of an upward deflection or notch at the end of QRS, and QRS slurs were measured at the top of conduction delay on the QRS downstroke. Absolute risk differences at 10 years were calculated to study the associations between J waves or QRS slurs and the primary outcome of cardiovascular death.Over a median follow-up of 17.5 years, 859 cardiovascular deaths occurred. Of 20 661 ECGs, 4219 (20%) had J waves or QRS slurs in the inferior and/or lateral territories; of these, 3318 (78.6%) had J waves or QRS slurs in inferior leads and 1701 (40.3%) in lateral leads. The upper bound of differences in risk for cardiovascular death from any of the J-wave or QRS slur patterns suggests that an increased risk can be safely ruled out (inferior, -0.77% [95% CI, -1.27% to -0.27%]; lateral, -1.07% [CI, -1.72% to -0.43%]).The study consisted of predominantly men, and deaths could be classified as cardiovascular but not arrhythmic.J waves and QRS slurs did not exhibit a clinically meaningful increased risk for cardiovascular death in long-term follow-up.None.

  View details for DOI 10.7326/M15-0598

  View details for PubMedID 26501238

• Gender Differences in Ventricular Remodeling and Function in College Athletes, Insights from Lean Body Mass Scaling and Deformation Imaging AMERICAN JOURNAL OF CARDIOLOGY Giraldeau, G., Kobayashi, Y., Finocchiaro, G., Wheeler, M., Perez, M., Kuznetsova, T., Lord, R., George, K. P., Oxborough, D., Schnittger, T., Froelicher, V., Liang, D., Ashley, E., Haddad, F. 2015; 116 (10): 1610-1616

  Abstract

  Several studies suggest gender differences in ventricular dimensions in athletes. Few studies have, however, made comparisons of data indexed for lean body mass (LBM) using allometry. Ninety Caucasian college athletes (mixed sports) who were matched for age, ethnicity, and sport total cardiovascular demands underwent dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry scan for quantification of LBM. Athletes underwent comprehensive assessment of left and right ventricular and atrial structure and function using 2-dimensional echocardiography and deformation imaging using the TomTec analysis system. The mean age of the study population was 18.9 ± 1.9 years. Female athletes (n = 45) had a greater fat free percentage (19.4 ± 3.7%) compared to male athletes (11.5 ± 3.7%). When scaled to body surface area, male had on average 19 ± 3% (p <0.001) greater left ventricular (LV) mass; in contrast, when scaled to LBM, there was no significant difference in indexed LV mass -1.4 ± 3.0% (p = 0.63). Similarly, when allometrically scaled to LBM, there was no significant gender-based difference in LV or left atrial volumes. Although female athletes had mildly higher LV ejection fraction and LV global longitudinal strain in absolute value, systolic strain rate and allometrically indexed stroke volume were not different between genders (1.5 ± 3.6% [p = 0.63] and 0.0 ± 3.7% [p = 0.93], respectively). There were no differences in any of the functional atrial indexes including strain or strain rate parameters. In conclusion, gender-related differences in ventricular dimensions or function (stroke volume) appear less marked, if not absent, when indexing using LBM allometrically.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.amjcard.2015.08.026

  View details for PubMedID 26456207

• Limitations of Current AHA Guidelines and Proposal of New Guidelines for the Preparticipation Examination of Athletes CLINICAL JOURNAL OF SPORT MEDICINE Dunn, T. P., Pickham, D., Aggarwal, S., Saini, D., Kumar, N., Wheeler, M. T., Perez, M., Ashley, E., Froelicher, V. F. 2015; 25 (6): 472-477

  Abstract

  To examine the prevalence of athletes who screen positive with the preparticipation examination guidelines from the American Heart Association, the AHA 12-elements, in combination with 3 screening electrocardiogram (ECG) criteria.Observational cross-sectional study.Stanford University Sports Medicine Clinic.Total of 1596 participants, including 297 (167 male; mean age, 16.2 years) high school athletes, 1016 (541 male; mean age, 18.8 years) collegiate athletes, and 283 (mean age, 26.3 years) male professional athletes.Athletes were screened using the 8 personal and family history questions from the AHA 12-elements. Electrocardiograms were obtained for all participants and interpreted using Seattle criteria, Stanford criteria, and European Society of Cardiology (ESC) recommendations.Approximately one-quarter of all athletes (23.8%) had at least 1 positive response to the AHA personal and family history elements. High school and college athletes had similar rates of having at least 1 positive response (25.9% vs 27.4%), whereas professional athletes had a significantly lower rate of having at least 1 positive response (8.8%, P < 0.05). Females reported more episodes of unexplained syncope (11.4% vs 7.5%, P = 0.017) and excessive exertional dyspnea with exercise (11.1% vs 6.1%, P = 0.001) than males. High school athletes had more positive responses to the family history elements when compared with college athletes (P < 0.05). The percentage of athletes who had an abnormal ECG varied between Seattle criteria (6.0%), Stanford criteria (8.8%), and ESC recommendations (26.8%).Many athletes screen positive under current screening recommendations, and ECG results vary widely by interpretation criteria.In a patient population without any adverse cardiovascular events, the currently recommended AHA 12-elements have an unacceptably high rate of false positives. Newer screening guidelines are needed, with fewer false positives and evidence-based updates.

  View details for Web of Science ID 000364310700003

  View details for PubMedID 25915146

• Reply to van Oosten et al: "P-Wave Characteristics on Routine Preoperative Electrocardiogram Improve Prediction of New-Onset Postoperative Atrial Fibrillation in Cardiac Surgery". Journal of cardiothoracic and vascular anesthesia Wong, J. K., Maxwell, B. G., Perez, M. V. 2015; 29 (5): e63-4

  View details for DOI 10.1053/j.jvca.2015.04.011

  View details for PubMedID 26260908

• Systematic Comparison of Digital Electrocardiograms From Healthy Athletes and Patients With Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy. Journal of the American College of Cardiology Bent, R. E., Wheeler, M. T., Hadley, D., Knowles, J. W., Pavlovic, A., Finocchiaro, G., Haddad, F., Salisbury, H., Race, S., Shmargad, Y., Matheson, G. O., Kumar, N., Saini, D., Froelicher, V., Ashley, E., Perez, M. V. 2015; 65 (22): 2462-2463

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jacc.2015.03.559

  View details for PubMedID 26046742

• Feasibility of Extended Ambulatory Electrocardiogram Monitoring to Identify Silent Atrial Fibrillation in High-risk Patients: The Screening Study for Undiagnosed Atrial Fibrillation (STUDY-AF) CLINICAL CARDIOLOGY Turakhia, M. P., Ullal, A. J., Hoang, D. D., Than, C. T., Miller, J. D., Friday, K. J., Perez, M. V., Freeman, J. V., Wang, P. J., Heidenreich, P. A. 2015; 38 (5): 285-292

  Abstract

  Identification of silent atrial fibrillation (AF) could prevent stroke and other sequelae.Screening for AF using continuous ambulatory electrocardiographic (ECG) monitoring can detect silent AF in asymptomatic in patients with known risk factors.We performed a single-center prospective screening study using a wearable patch-based device that provides up to 2 weeks of continuous ambulatory ECG monitoring (iRhythm Technologies, Inc.). Inclusion criteria were age ≥55 years and ≥2 of the following risk factors: coronary disease, heart failure, hypertension, diabetes, sleep apnea. We excluded patients with prior AF, stroke, transient ischemic attack, implantable pacemaker or defibrillator, or with palpitations or syncope in the prior year.Out of 75 subjects (all male, age 69 ± 8.0 years; ejection fraction 57% ± 8.7%), AF was detected in 4 subjects (5.3%; AF burden 28% ± 48%). Atrial tachycardia (AT) was present in 67% (≥4 beats), 44% (≥8 beats), and 6.7% (≥60 seconds) of subjects. The combined diagnostic yield of sustained AT/AF was 11%. In subjects without sustained AT/AF, 11 (16%) had ≥30 supraventricular ectopic complexes per hour.Outpatient extended ECG screening for asymptomatic AF is feasible, with AF identified in 1 in 20 subjects and sustained AT/AF identified in 1 in 9 subjects, respectively. We also found a high prevalence of asymptomatic AT and frequent supraventricular ectopic complexes, which may be relevant to development of AF or stroke. If confirmed in a larger study, primary screening for AF could have a significant impact on public health.

  View details for DOI 10.1002/clc.22387

  View details for PubMedID 25873476

• Computerized Q wave dimensions in athletes and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy patients JOURNAL OF ELECTROCARDIOLOGY Bent, R. E., Wheeler, M. T., Hadley, D., Froelicher, V., Ashley, E., Perez, M. V. 2015; 48 (3): 362-367

  Abstract

  There is controversy regarding Q wave criteria for assessing risk for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) in young athletes.The 12-lead ECGs from Preparticipation screening in healthy athletes and patients with HCM were studied retrospectively. All 12 leads were measured using the same automated ECG analysis program.There were a total of 225 HCM patients and 1124 athletes with 12-lead electrocardiograms available for analysis. Athletes were on average 20 years of age, 65% were male and 24% were African-American. Patients with HCM were on average 51 years of age, 56% were male and 5.8% were African-American. Q waves by either amplitude, duration or area criteria were more prevalent in males than females, in lateral leads than inferior and in HCM patients than athletes. The most striking difference in Q waves between the groups was in Limb lead I and in the females. Tall, skinny Q waves were rare in athletes and had the highest prevalence of only 3.7% in male HCM patients.Q waves are more common in males compared to females and in patients with HCM compared to athletes. Q waves of 30 ms or more in limb lead I appear to offer the greatest discriminatory value for separating patients with HCM from athletes.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jelectrocard.2015.01.009

  View details for PubMedID 25732098

• Race and ethnicity, obesity, metabolic health, and risk of cardiovascular disease in postmenopausal women. Journal of the American Heart Association Schmiegelow, M. D., Hedlin, H., Mackey, R. H., Martin, L. W., Vitolins, M. Z., Stefanick, M. L., Perez, M. V., Allison, M., Hlatky, M. A. 2015; 4 (5)

  Abstract

  It is unclear whether obesity unaccompanied by metabolic abnormalities is associated with increased cardiovascular disease risk across racial and ethnic subgroups.We identified 14 364 postmenopausal women from the Women's Health Initiative who had data on fasting serum lipids and serum glucose and no history of cardiovascular disease or diabetes at baseline. We categorized women by body mass index (in kg/m(2)) as normal weight (body mass index 18.5 to <25), overweight (body mass index 25 to <30), or obese (body mass index ≥30) and by metabolic health, defined first as the metabolic syndrome (metabolically unhealthy: ≥3 metabolic abnormalities) and second as the number of metabolic abnormalities. We used Cox proportional hazards regression to assess associations between baseline characteristics and cardiovascular risk. Over 13 years of follow-up, 1101 women had a first cardiovascular disease event (coronary heart disease or ischemic stroke). Among black women without metabolic syndrome, overweight women had higher adjusted cardiovascular risk than normal weight women (hazard ratio [HR] 1.49), whereas among white women without metabolic syndrome, overweight women had similar risk to normal weight women (HR 0.92, interaction P=0.05). Obese black women without metabolic syndrome had higher adjusted risk (HR 1.95) than obese white women (HR 1.07; interaction P=0.02). Among women with only 2 metabolic abnormalities, cardiovascular risk was increased in black women who were overweight (HR 1.77) or obese (HR 2.17) but not in white women who were overweight (HR 0.98) or obese (HR 1.06). Overweight and obese women with ≤1 metabolic abnormality did not have increased cardiovascular risk, regardless of race or ethnicity.Metabolic abnormalities appeared to convey more cardiovascular risk among black women.

  View details for DOI 10.1161/JAHA.114.001695

  View details for PubMedID 25994446

• Cardiopulmonary responses and prognosis in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: a potential role for comprehensive noninvasive hemodynamic assessment. JACC. Heart failure Finocchiaro, G., Haddad, F., Knowles, J. W., Caleshu, C., Pavlovic, A., Homburger, J., Shmargad, Y., Sinagra, G., Magavern, E., Wong, M., Perez, M., Schnittger, I., Myers, J., Froelicher, V., Ashley, E. A. 2015; 3 (5): 408-418

  Abstract

  This study sought to discover the key determinants of exercise capacity, maximal oxygen consumption (oxygen uptake [Vo2]), and ventilatory efficiency (ventilation/carbon dioxide output [VE/Vco2] slope) and assess the prognostic potential of metabolic exercise testing in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM).The intrinsic mechanisms leading to reduced functional tolerance in HCM are unclear.The study sample included 156 HCM patients consecutively enrolled from January 1, 2007 to January 1, 2012 with a complete clinical assessment, including rest and stress echocardiography and cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) with impedance cardiography. Patients were also followed for the composite outcome of cardiac-related death, heart transplant, and functional deterioration leading to septal reduction therapy (myectomy or septal alcohol ablation).Abnormalities in CPET responses were frequent, with 39% (n = 61) of the sample showing a reduced exercise tolerance (Vo2 max <80% of predicted) and 19% (n = 30) characterized by impaired ventilatory efficiency (VE/Vco2 slope >34). The variables most strongly associated with exercise capacity (expressed in metabolic equivalents), were peak cardiac index (r = 0.51, p < 0.001), age (r = -0.25, p < 0.01), male sex (r = 0.24, p = 0.02), and indexed right ventricular end-diastolic area (r = 0.31, p = 0.002), resulting in an R(2) of 0.51, p < 0.001. Peak cardiac index was the main predictor of peak Vo2 (r = 0.61, p < 0.001). The variables most strongly related to VE/VCO2 slope were E/E' (r = 0.23, p = 0.021) and indexed left atrial volume index (LAVI) (r = 0.34, p = 0.005) (model R(2) = 0.15). The composite endpoint occurred in 21 (13%) patients. In an exploratory analysis, 3 variables were independently associated with the composite outcome (mean follow-up 27 ± 11 months): peak Vo2 <80% of predicted (hazard ratio: 4.11; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.46 to 11.59; p = 0.008), VE/Vco2 slope >34 (hazard ratio: 3.14; 95% CI: 1.26 to 7.87; p = 0.014), and LAVI >40 ml/m(2) (hazard ratio: 3.32; 95% CI: 1.08 to 10.16; p = 0.036).In HCM, peak cardiac index is the main determinant of exercise capacity, but it is not significantly related to ventilatory efficiency. Peak Vo2, ventilatory inefficiency, and LAVI are associated with an increased risk of major events in the short-term follow-up.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jchf.2014.11.011

  View details for PubMedID 25863972

• Genetic risk for atrial fibrillation could motivate patient adherence to warfarin therapy: a cost effectiveness analysis. BMC cardiovascular disorders Shiffman, D., Perez, M. V., Bare, L. A., Louie, J. Z., Arellano, A. R., Devlin, J. J. 2015; 15: 104-?

  Abstract

  Atrial fibrillation (AF) increases risk of stroke, and although this stroke risk can be ameliorated by warfarin therapy, some patients decline to adhere to warfarin therapy. A prospective clinical study could be conducted to determine whether knowledge of genetic risk for AF could increase adherence to warfarin therapy for patients who initially declined therapy. As a prelude to a potential prospective clinical study, we investigated whether the use of genetic information to increase adherence could be cost effective.Markov model assessed costs and utilities of two care strategies for AF patients who declined warfarin therapy. In the usual care strategy patients received aspirin. In the test strategy genetic risk for AF was assessed (genotype of the 4q25 locus) and some patients with a positive genetic test (≥1 risk allele) were assumed to adhere to warfarin therapy. The remaining patients received aspirin. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was the ratio of the costs differential and the quality adjusted life-years (QALYs) differential for the two strategies.We found that the 4q25 genetic testing strategy, compared with the usual care strategy (aspirin therapy), would be cost-effective (ICER $ 47,148) if 2.1 % or more of the test positive patients were to adhere to warfarin therapy. The test strategy would become a cost saving strategy if 5.3 % or more of the test positive patients were to adhere to warfarin therapy. If 20 % of test positive patients were to adhere to warfarin therapy in a hypothetical cohort of 1000 patients, 7 stroke events would be prevented and 3 extra-cranial major bleeding events would be caused over 5 years, resulting in a cost savings of ~ $250,000 and a net gain of 9 QALYs.A clinical study to assess the impact of patient knowledge of genetic risk of AF on adherence to warfarin therapy would be merited because even a modest increase in patient adherence would make a genetic testing strategy cost-effective.Providing patients who declined warfarin therapy with information about their genetic risk of AF would be cost effective if this genetic risk information resulted in modest increases in adherence.

  View details for DOI 10.1186/s12872-015-0100-7

  View details for PubMedID 26419225

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC4587718

• Genetic risk for atrial fibrillation could motivate patient adherence to warfarin therapy: a cost effectiveness analysis. BMC cardiovascular disorders Shiffman, D., Perez, M. V., Bare, L. A., Louie, J. Z., Arellano, A. R., Devlin, J. J. 2015; 15 (1): 104-?

  View details for DOI 10.1186/s12872-015-0100-7

  View details for PubMedID 26419225

• P-Wave Characteristics on Routine Preoperative Electrocardiogram Improve Prediction of New-Onset Postoperative Atrial Fibrillation in Cardiac Surgery JOURNAL OF CARDIOTHORACIC AND VASCULAR ANESTHESIA Wong, J. K., Lobato, R. L., Pinesett, A., Maxwell, B. G., Mora-Mangano, C. T., Perez, M. V. 2014; 28 (6): 1497-1504

  Abstract

  To test the hypothesis that including preoperative electrocardiogram (ECG) characteristics with clinical variables significantly improves the new-onset postoperative atrial fibrillation prediction model.Retrospective analysis.Single-center university hospital.Five hundred twenty-six patients,≥18 years of age, who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting, aortic valve replacement, mitral valve replacement/repair, or a combination of valve surgery and coronary artery bypass grafting requiring cardiopulmonary bypass.Retrospective review of medical records.Baseline characteristics and cardiopulmonary bypass times were collected. Digitally-measured timing and voltages from preoperative electrocardiograms were extracted. Postoperative atrial fibrillation was defined as atrial fibrillation requiring therapeutic intervention. Two hundred eight (39.5%) patients developed postoperative atrial fibrillation. Clinical predictors were age, ejection fraction<55%, history of atrial fibrillation, history of cerebral vascular event, and valvular surgery. Three ECG parameters associated with postoperative atrial fibrillation were observed: Premature atrial contraction, p-wave index, and p-frontal axis. Adding electrocardiogram variables to the prediction model with only clinical predictors significantly improved the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, from 0.71 to 0.78 (p<0.01). Overall net reclassification improvement was 0.059 (p = 0.09). Among those who developed postoperative atrial fibrillation, the net reclassification improvement was 0.063 (p = 0.03).Several p-wave characteristics are independently associated with postoperative atrial fibrillation. Addition of these parameters improves the postoperative atrial fibrillation prediction model.

  View details for DOI 10.1053/j.jvca.2014.04.034

  View details for PubMedID 25263779

• Evidence of Heterogeneity by Race/Ethnicity in Genetic Determinants of QT Interval EPIDEMIOLOGY Seyerle, A. A., Young, A. M., Jeff, J. M., Melton, P. E., Jorgensen, N. W., Lin, Y., Carty, C. L., Deelman, E., Heckbert, S. R., Hindorff, L. A., Jackson, R. D., Martin, L. W., Okin, P. M., Perez, M. V., Psaty, B. M., Soliman, E. Z., Whitsel, E. A., North, K. E., Laston, S., Kooperberg, C., Avery, C. L. 2014; 25 (6): 790-798

  View details for DOI 10.1097/EDE.0000000000000168

  View details for Web of Science ID 000343122000002

• Molecular diagnosis of long QT syndrome at 10 days of life by rapid whole genome sequencing. Heart rhythm Priest, J. R., Ceresnak, S. R., Dewey, F. E., Malloy-Walton, L. E., Dunn, K., Grove, M. E., Perez, M. V., Maeda, K., Dubin, A. M., Ashley, E. A. 2014; 11 (10): 1707-1713

  Abstract

  The advent of clinical next generation sequencing is rapidly changing the landscape of rare disease medicine. Molecular diagnosis of long QT syndrome (LQTS) can impact clinical management, including risk stratification and selection of pharmacotherapy based on the type of ion channel affected, but results from current gene panel testing requires 4 to 16 weeks before return to clinicians.A term female infant presented with 2:1 atrioventricular block and ventricular arrhythmias consistent with perinatal LQTS, requiring aggressive treatment including epicardial pacemaker, and cardioverter-defibrillator implantation and sympathectomy on day of life two. We sought to provide a rapid molecular diagnosis for optimization of treatment strategies.We performed CLIA-certified rapid whole genome sequencing (WGS) with a speed-optimized bioinformatics platform to achieve molecular diagnosis at 10 days of life.We detected a known pathogenic variant in KCNH2 that was demonstrated to be paternally inherited by followup genotyping. The unbiased assessment of the entire catalog of human genes provided by whole genome sequencing revealed a maternally inherited variant of unknown significance in a novel gene.Rapid clinical WGS provides faster and more comprehensive diagnostic information by 10 days of life than standard gene-panel testing. In selected clinical scenarios such as perinatal LQTS, rapid WGS may be able to provide more timely and clinically actionable information than a standard commercial test.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.hrthm.2014.06.030

  View details for PubMedID 24973560

• Association Between Success Rate and Citation Count of Studies of Radiofrequency Catheter Ablation for Atrial Fibrillation Possible Evidence of Citation Bias CIRCULATION-CARDIOVASCULAR QUALITY AND OUTCOMES Perino, A. C., Hoang, D. D., Holmes, T. H., Santangeli, P., Heidenreich, P. A., Perez, M. V., Wang, P. J., Turakhia, M. P. 2014; 7 (5): 687-692

  Abstract

  The preferential citation of studies with the highest success rates could exaggerate perceived effectiveness, particularly for treatments with widely varying published success rates such as radiofrequency catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation.We systematically identified observational studies and clinical trials of radiofrequency catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation between 1990 and 2012. Generalized Poisson regression was used to estimate association between study success rate and total citation count, adjusting for sample size, journal impact factor, time since publication, study design, and whether first or last author was a consensus-defined pre-eminent expert. We identified 174 articles meeting our inclusion criteria (36 289 subjects). After adjustment only for time since publication, a 10-point increase above the mean in pooled reported success rates was associated with a 17.8% increase in citation count at 5 years postpublication (95% confidence interval, 7.1-28.4%; P<0.001). After additional adjustment for impact factor, sample size, randomized trial design, and pre-eminent expert authorship, the association remained significant (18.6% increase in citation count; 95% confidence interval, 7.6-29.6%; P<0.0001). In this full model, time since publication, impact factor, and pre-eminent expert authorship were significant covariates, whereas randomized control trial design and study sample size were not.Among studies of radiofrequency catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation, high success rate was independently associated with citation count, which may indicate citation bias. To readers of the literature, radiofrequency catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation could be perceived to be more effective than the data supports. These findings may have implications for a wide variety of novel cardiovascular therapies.

  View details for DOI 10.1161/CIRCOUTCOMES.114.000912

  View details for Web of Science ID 000342365200011

• Obesity, physical activity, and their interaction in incident atrial fibrillation in postmenopausal women. Journal of the American Heart Association Azarbal, F., Stefanick, M. L., Salmoirago-Blotcher, E., Manson, J. E., Albert, C. M., LaMonte, M. J., Larson, J. C., Li, W., Martin, L. W., Nassir, R., Garcia, L., Assimes, T. L., Tharp, K. M., Hlatky, M. A., Perez, M. V. 2014; 3 (4)

  Abstract

  Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia and is associated with increased risk of stroke and death. Obesity is an independent risk factor for AF, but modifiers of this risk are not well known. We studied the roles of obesity, physical activity, and their interaction in conferring risk of incident AF.The Women's Health Initiative (WHI) Observational Study was a prospective observational study of 93 676 postmenopausal women followed for an average of 11.5 years. Incident AF was identified using WHI-ascertained hospitalization records and diagnostic codes from Medicare claims. A multivariate Cox's hazard regression model adjusted for demographic and clinical risk factors was used to evaluate the interaction between obesity and physical activity and its association with incident AF. After exclusion of women with prevalent AF, incomplete data, or underweight body mass index (BMI), 9792 of the remaining 81 317 women developed AF. Women were, on average, 63.4 years old, 7.8% were African American, and 3.6% were Hispanic. Increased BMI (hazard ratio [HR], 1.12 per 5-kg/m(2) increase; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.10 to 1.14) and reduced physical activity (>9 vs. 0 metabolic equivalent task hours per week; HR, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.85 to 0.96) were independently associated with higher rates of AF after multivariate adjustment. Higher levels of physical activity reduced the AF risk conferred by obesity (interaction P=0.033).Greater physical activity is associated with lower rates of incident AF and modifies the association between obesity and incident AF.

  View details for DOI 10.1161/JAHA.114.001127

  View details for PubMedID 25142057

• Exercise capacity and paroxysmal atrial fibrillation in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Heart Azarbal, F., Singh, M., Finocchiaro, G., Le, V., Schnittger, I., Wang, P., Myers, J., Ashley, E., Perez, M. 2014; 100 (8): 624-630

  Abstract

  Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia among patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). The relationship between paroxysmal AF and exercise capacity in this population is incompletely understood.Patients with HCM underwent symptom-limited cardiopulmonary testing with expired gas analysis at Stanford Hospital between October 2006 and October 2012. Baseline demographics, medical histories and resting echocardiograms were obtained for all subjects. Diagnosis of AF was established by review of medical records and baseline ECG. Those with paroxysmal AF were in sinus rhythm at the time of cardiopulmonary testing with expired gas analysis. Exercise intolerance was defined as peak VO2<20 mL/kg/min. We used multivariate logistic regression to evaluate the association between exercise intolerance and paroxysmal AF.Among the 265 patients recruited, 55 had AF (28 paroxysmal and 27 permanent). Compared with those without AF, subjects with paroxysmal AF were older, more likely to use antiarrhythmic and anticoagulant medications, and had larger left atria. Patients with paroxysmal AF achieved lower peak VO2 (21.9±9.2 mL/kg/min vs 26.9±10.8 mL/kg/min, p=0.02) and were more likely to have exercise intolerance (61% vs 28%, p<0.001) compared with those without AF. After adjustment for age, sex and body mass index (BMI) exercise intolerance remained significantly associated with paroxysmal AF (OR 4.65, 95% CI 1.83 to 11.83, p=0.001).Patients with HCM and paroxysmal AF demonstrate exercise intolerance despite being in sinus rhythm at the time of exercise testing.

  View details for DOI 10.1136/heartjnl-2013-304908

  View details for PubMedID 24326897

• Latent obstruction and left atrial size are predictors of clinical deterioration leading to septal reduction in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Journal of cardiac failure Finocchiaro, G., Haddad, F., Pavlovic, A., Sinagra, G., Schnittger, I., Knowles, J. W., Perez, M., Magavern, E., Myers, J., Ashley, E. 2014; 20 (4): 236-243

  Abstract

  Exercise echocardiography is a reliable tool to assess left ventricular (LV) dynamic obstruction in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). The aim of this study was to determine the role of exercise echocardiography in the evaluation of latent obstruction and in predicting clinical deterioration in HCM patients.We considered 283 HCM patients studied with exercise echocardiography. The end point was clinical deterioration leading to septal reduction (myectomy or alcohol septal ablation). LV latent obstruction was present at enrollment in 67 patients (24%). During a mean follow-up of 42 ± 31 months, 42 patients had clinical deterioration leading to septal reduction therapy: in 12/67 (22%) patients with a latent obstruction at enrollment, in 28/84 (33%) patients with obstruction at rest, and in 2/132 (1.5%) with obstruction neither at rest or during stress. Multivariate analysis identified the following variables as independently associated with the end point: LV gradient >30 mm Hg at rest (hazard ratio [HR] 2.56, 95% CI 1.27-5.14; P = .009), LV gradient >30 mm Hg during stress (HR 4.96, 95% CI 1.81-13.61; P = .002), and indexed left atrial volume (LAVi ) >40 mL/m(2) (HR 2.86, 95% CI 1.47-5.55; P = .002). In patients with a latent obstruction, the strongest independent predictor of outcome was LAVi >40 mL/m(2) (HR 3.75, 95% CI 1.12-12.51; P = .032).Assessment of LV gradient during stress with exercise echocardiography is an important tool for the evaluation of latent obstruction in HCM and may have a role in risk stratification of these patients.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.cardfail.2014.01.014

  View details for PubMedID 24486928

• Patterns and prognosis of all components of the J-wave pattern in multiethnic athletes and ambulatory patients. American heart journal Muramoto, D., Yong, C. M., Singh, N., Aggarwal, S., Perez, M., Ashley, E., Hadley, D., Froelicher, V. 2014; 167 (2): 259-266

  Abstract

  Despite recent concern about the significance of the J-wave pattern (also often referred to as early repolarization) and the importance of screening in athletes, there are limited rigorous prognostic data characterizing the 3 components of the J-wave pattern (ST elevation, J waves, and QRS slurs). We aim to assess the prevalence, patterns, and prognosis of the J-wave pattern among both stable clinical and athlete populations.We retrospectively studied 4,041 electrocardiograms from a multiethnic clinical population from 1997 to 1999 at the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System. We also examined preparticipation electrocardiograms of 1,114 Stanford University varsity athletes from 2007 to 2008. Strictly defined criteria for components of the J-wave pattern were examined. In clinical subjects, prognosis was assessed using the end point of cardiovascular death after 7 years of follow-up.Components of the J-wave pattern were most prevalent in males; African Americans; and, particularly, athletes, with the greatest variations demonstrated in the lateral leads. ST elevation was the most common. Inferior J waves and slurs, previously linked to cardiovascular risk, were observed in 9.6% of clinical subjects and 12.3% of athletes. J waves, slurs, or ST elevation was not associated with time to cardiovascular death in clinical subjects, and ST-segment slope abnormalities were not prevalent enough in conjunction with them to reach significance.J waves, slurs, or ST elevation was not associated with increased hazard of cardiovascular death in our large multiethnic, ambulatory population. Even subsets of J-wave patterns, recently proposed to pose a risk of arrhythmic death, occurred at such a high prevalence as to negate their utility in screening.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.ahj.2013.10.027

  View details for PubMedID 24439988

• Prevalence and clinical correlates of right ventricular dysfunction in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. American journal of cardiology Finocchiaro, G., Knowles, J. W., Pavlovic, A., Perez, M., Magavern, E., Sinagra, G., Haddad, F., Ashley, E. A. 2014; 113 (2): 361-367

  Abstract

  Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HC) is a disease that mainly affects the left ventricle (LV), however recent studies have suggested that it can also be associated with right ventricular (RV) dysfunction. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of RV dysfunction in patients with HC and its relation with LV function and outcome. A total of 324 consecutive patients with HC who received care at Stanford Hospital from 1999 to 2012 were included in the study. A group of 99 prospectively recruited age- and gender-matched healthy volunteers were used as controls. RV function was quantified using the RV fractional area change, tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE), and RV myocardial performance index (RVMPI). Compared with the controls, the patients with HC had a higher RVMPI (0.51 ± 0.18 vs 0.25 ± 0.06, p <0.001) and lower TAPSE (20 ± 3 vs 24 ± 4, p <0.001). RV dysfunction based on an RVMPI >0.4 and TAPSE <16 mm was found in 71% and 11% of the HC and control groups, respectively. Worst LV function and greater pulmonary pressures were independent correlates of RV dysfunction. At an average follow-up of 3.7 ± 2.3 years, 17 patients had died and 4 had undergone heart transplantation. LV ejection fraction <50% and TAPSE <16 mm were independent correlates of outcome (hazard ratio 3.98, 95% confidence interval 1.22 to 13.04, p = 0.02; and hazard ratio 3.66, 95% confidence interval 1.38 to 9.69, p = 0.009, respectively). In conclusion, RV dysfunction based on the RVMPI is common in patients with HC and more frequently observed in patients with LV dysfunction and pulmonary hypertension. RV dysfunction based on the TAPSE was independently associated with an increased likelihood of death or transplantation.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.amjcard.2013.09.045

  View details for PubMedID 24230980

• Use of Medicare data to identify coronary heart disease outcomes in the Women's Health Initiative. Circulation. Cardiovascular quality and outcomes Hlatky, M. A., Ray, R. M., Burwen, D. R., Margolis, K. L., Johnson, K. C., Kucharska-Newton, A., Manson, J. E., Robinson, J. G., Safford, M. M., Allison, M., Assimes, T. L., Bavry, A. A., Berger, J., Cooper-DeHoff, R. M., Heckbert, S. R., Li, W., Liu, S., Martin, L. W., Perez, M. V., Tindle, H. A., Winkelmayer, W. C., Stefanick, M. L. 2014; 7 (1): 157-162

  Abstract

  . Unique identifier: NCT00000611.

  View details for DOI 10.1161/CIRCOUTCOMES.113.000373

  View details for PubMedID 24399330

• Evidence of Heterogeneity by Race/Ethnicity in Genetic Determinants of QT Interval. Epidemiology (Cambridge, Mass.) Seyerle, A. A., Young, A. M., Jeff, J. M., Melton, P. E., Jorgensen, N. W., Lin, Y., Carty, C. L., Deelman, E., Heckbert, S. R., Hindorff, L. A., Jackson, R. D., Martin, L. W., Okin, P. M., Perez, M. V., Psaty, B. M., Soliman, E. Z., Whitsel, E. A., North, K. E., Laston, S., Kooperberg, C., Avery, C. L. 2014; 25 (6): 790–98

  Abstract

  QT interval (QT) prolongation is an established risk factor for ventricular tachyarrhythmia and sudden cardiac death. Previous genome-wide association studies in populations of the European descent have identified multiple genetic loci that influence QT, but few have examined these loci in ethnically diverse populations.Here, we examine the direction, magnitude, and precision of effect sizes for 21 previously reported SNPs from 12 QT loci, in populations of European (n = 16,398), African (n = 5,437), American Indian (n = 5,032), Hispanic (n = 1,143), and Asian (n = 932) descent as part of the Population Architecture using Genomics and Epidemiology (PAGE) study. Estimates obtained from linear regression models stratified by race/ethnicity were combined using inverse-variance weighted meta-analysis. Heterogeneity was evaluated using Cochran's Q test.Of 21 SNPs, 7 showed consistent direction of effect across all 5 populations, and an additional 9 had estimated effects that were consistent across 4 populations. Despite consistent direction of effect, 9 of 16 SNPs had evidence (P < 0.05) of heterogeneity by race/ethnicity. For these 9 SNPs, linkage disequilibrium plots often indicated substantial variation in linkage disequilibrium patterns among the various racial/ethnic groups, as well as possible allelic heterogeneity.These results emphasize the importance of analyzing racial/ethnic groups separately in genetic studies. Furthermore, they underscore the possible utility of trans-ethnic studies to pinpoint underlying casual variants influencing heritable traits such as QT.

  View details for PubMedID 25166880

• Electrocardiographic Repolarization-Related Variables as Predictors of Coronary Heart Disease Death in the Women's Health Initiative Study. Journal of the American Heart Association Rautaharju, P. M., Zhang, Z., Vitolins, M., Perez, M., Allison, M. A., Greenland, P., Soliman, E. Z. 2014; 3 (4)

  Abstract

  We evaluated 25 repolarization-related ECG variables for the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) death in 52 994 postmenopausal women from the Women's Health Initiative study.Hazard ratios from Cox regression were computed for subgroups of women with and without cardiovascular disease (CVD). During the average follow-up of 16.9 years, 941 CHD deaths occurred. Based on electrophysiological considerations, 2 sets of ECG variables with low correlations were considered as candidates for independent predictors of CHD death: Set 1, Ѳ(Tp|Tref), the spatial angle between T peak (Tp) and normal T reference (Tref) vectors; Ѳ(Tinit|Tterm), the angle between the initial and terminal T vectors; STJ depression in V6 and rate-adjusted QTp interval (QTpa); and Set 2, TaVR and TV1 amplitudes, heart rate, and QRS duration. Strong independent predictors with over 2-fold increased risk for CHD death in women with and without CVD were Ѳ(Tp|Tref) >42° from Set 1 and TaVR amplitude >-100 μV from Set 2. The risk for these CHD death predictors remained significant after multivariable adjustment for demographic/clinical factors. Other significant predictors for CHD death in fully adjusted risk models were Ѳ(Tinit|Tterm) >30°, TV1 >175 μV, and QRS duration >100 ms.Ѳ(Tp|Tref) angle and TaVR amplitude are associated with CHD mortality in postmenopausal women. The use of these measures to identify high-risk women for further diagnostic evaluation or more intense preventive intervention warrants further study.http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT00000611.

  View details for DOI 10.1161/JAHA.114.001005

  View details for PubMedID 25074699

• Does CHA2DS2-VASc improve stroke risk stratification in postmenopausal women with atrial fibrillation? American journal of medicine Abraham, J. M., Larson, J., Chung, M. K., Curtis, A. B., Lakshminarayan, K., Newman, J. D., Perez, M., Rexrode, K., Shara, N. M., Solomon, A. J., Stefanick, M. L., Torner, J. C., Wilkoff, B. L., Wassertheil-Smoller, S. 2013; 126 (12): 1143 e1-8

  Abstract

  Risk stratification of atrial fibrillation patients with a congestive heart failure (C), hypertension (H), age ≥ 75 (A), diabetes (D), stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) (S2) (CHADS2) score of <2 remains imprecise, particularly in women. Our objectives were to validate the CHADS2 and congestive heart failure (C), hypertension (H), age ≥ 75 (A2), diabetes (D), stroke, TIA or prior thromboembolic disease (S2)- vascular disease (V), age 65-74 (A), female gender (S) (CHA2DS2-VASc) stroke risk scores in a healthy cohort of American women with atrial fibrillation and to determine whether CHA2DS2-VASc further risk-stratifies individuals with a CHADS2 score of <2.We identified a cohort of 5981 women with atrial fibrillation not on warfarin at baseline (mean age 65.9 ± 7.2 years) enrolled in the Women's Health Initiative and followed for a median of 11.8 years. Univariate and multivariate proportional hazards analyses were used to examine these 2 risk scores, with main outcome measures being annualized event rates of ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack stratified by risk score.Annualized stroke/transient ischemic attack rates ranged from 0.36% to 2.43% with increasing CHADS2 score (0-4+) (hazard ratio [HR] 1.57; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.45-1.71 for each 1-point increase) and 0.20%-2.02% with increasing CHA2DS2-VASc score (1-6+) (HR 1.50; 95% CI, 1.41-1.60 for each 1-point increase). CHA2DS2-VASc had a higher c statistic than CHADS2: 0.67 (95% CI, 0.65-0.69) versus 0.65 (95% CI, 0.62-0.67), P <.01. For CHADS2 scores <2, stroke risk almost doubled with every additional CHA2DS2-VASc point.Although both CHADS2, and CHA2DS2-VASc are predictive of stroke risk in postmenopausal women with atrial fibrillation, CHA2DS2-VASc further risk-stratifies patients with a CHADS2 score <2.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.amjmed.2013.05.023

  View details for PubMedID 24139523

• Variation in Use of Left Ventriculography in the Veterans Affairs Health Care System CIRCULATION-CARDIOVASCULAR QUALITY AND OUTCOMES Heidenreich, P. A., Lin, S., Knowles, J. W., Perez, M., Maddox, T. M., Ho, M. P., Rumsfeld, J. S., Sahay, A., Massie, B. M., Tsai, T. T., Witteles, R. M. 2013; 6 (6): 687-693

  Abstract

  Contrast left ventriculography is a method of measuring left ventricular function usually performed at the discretion of the invasive cardiologist during cardiac catheterization. We sought to determine variation in the use of left ventriculography in the Veterans Affairs (VA) Health Care System.We identified adult patients who underwent cardiac catheterization including coronary angiography between 2000 and 2009 in the VA Health Care System. We determined patient and hospital predictors of the use of left ventriculography as well as the variation in use across VA facilities. Results were validated using data from the VA's Clinical Assessment, Reporting, and Tracking (CART) program. Of 457 170 cardiac catheterization procedures among 336 853 patients, left ventriculography was performed on 263 695 (58%) patients. Use of left ventriculography decreased over time (64% in 2000 to 50% in 2009) and varied markedly across facilities (<1->95% of cardiac catheterizations). Patient factors explained little of the large variation in use between facilities. When the cohort was restricted to those with an echocardiogram in the prior 30 days and no intervening event, left ventriculography was still performed in 50% of cases.There is large variation in the use of left ventriculography across VA facilities that is not explained by patient characteristics.

  View details for DOI 10.1161/CIRCOUTCOMES.113.000199

  View details for Web of Science ID 000330362400017

  View details for PubMedID 24192569

• Prognostic implications of the J wave ECG patterns. Journal of electrocardiology Yong, C. M., Perez, M., Froelicher, V. 2013; 46 (5): 408-410

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jelectrocard.2013.06.010

  View details for PubMedID 23870660

• African American race but not genome-wide ancestry is negatively associated with atrial fibrillation among postmenopausal women in the Women's Health Initiative. American heart journal Perez, M. V., Hoffmann, T. J., Tang, H., Thornton, T., Stefanick, M. L., Larson, J. C., Kooperberg, C., Reiner, A. P., Caan, B., Iribarren, C., Risch, N. 2013; 166 (3): 566-572

  Abstract

  Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia in women and is associated with higher rates of stroke and death. Rates of AF are lower in African American subjects compared with European Americans, suggesting European ancestry could contribute to AF risk.The Women's Health Initiative (WHI) Observational Study (OS) followed up 93,676 women since the mid 1990s for various cardiovascular outcomes including AF. Multivariate Cox hazard regression analysis was used to measure the association between African American race and incident AF. A total of 8,119 African American women from the WHI randomized clinical trials and OS were genotyped on the Affymetrix Human SNP Array 6.0. Genome-wide ancestry and previously reported single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with AF in European cohorts were tested for association with AF using multivariate logistic regression analyses.Self-reported African American race was associated with lower rates of AF (hazard ratio 0.43, 95% CI 0.32-0.60) in the OS, independent of demographic and clinical risk factors. In the genotyped cohort, there were 558 women with AF. By contrast, genome-wide European ancestry was not associated with AF. None of the single nucleotide polymorphisms previously associated with AF in European populations, including rs2200733, were associated with AF in the WHI African American cohort.African American race is significantly and inversely correlated with AF in postmenopausal women. The etiology of this association remains unclear and may be related to unidentified environmental differences. Larger studies are necessary to identify genetic determinants of AF in African Americans.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.ahj.2013.05.024

  View details for PubMedID 24016508

• J wave patterns and their prognostic value in African Americans. Journal of electrocardiology Perez, M. V., Froelicher, V. 2013; 46 (5): 442-445

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jelectrocard.2013.06.015

  View details for PubMedID 23885885

• Risk factors for atrial fibrillation and their population burden in postmenopausal women: the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study. Heart Perez, M. V., Wang, P. J., Larson, J. C., Soliman, E. Z., Limacher, M., Rodriguez, B., Klein, L., Manson, J. E., Martin, L. W., Prineas, R., Connelly, S., Hlatky, M., Wassertheil-Smoller, S., Stefanick, M. L. 2013; 99 (16): 1173-1178

  Abstract

  OBJECTIVE: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia in women. Large studies evaluating key AF risk factors in older women are lacking. We aimed to identify risk factors for AF in postmenopausal women and measure population burden of modifiable risk factors. DESIGN: Prospective observational study. SETTING: The Women's Health Initiative (WHI) Observational Study. PATIENTS: 93 676 postmenopausal women were followed for an average of 9.8 years for cardiovascular outcomes. After exclusion of women with prevalent AF or incomplete data, 8252 of the remaining 81 892 women developed incident AF. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Incident AF was identified by WHI-ascertained hospitalisation records and diagnosis codes from Medicare claims. Multivariate Cox hazard regression analysis identified independent risk factors for incident AF. RESULTS: Age, hypertension, obesity, diabetes, myocardial infarction and heart failure were independently associated with incident AF. Hypertension and overweight status accounted for 28.3% and 12.1%, respectively, of the population attributable risk. Hispanic and African-American participants had lower rates of incident AF (HR 0.58, 95% CI 0.47 to 0.70 and HR 0.59, 95% CI 0.53 to 0.65, respectively) than Caucasians. CONCLUSIONS: Caucasian ethnicity, traditional cardiovascular risk factors and peripheral arterial disease were independently associated with higher rates of incident AF in postmenopausal women. Hypertension and overweight status accounted for a large proportion of population attributable risk. Measuring burden of modifiable AF risk factors in older women may help target interventions.

  View details for DOI 10.1136/heartjnl-2013-303798

  View details for PubMedID 23756655

• Different patterns of bundle-branch blocks and the risk of incident heart failure in the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study. Circulation. Heart failure Zhang, Z., Rautaharju, P. M., Soliman, E. Z., Manson, J. E., Martin, L. W., Perez, M., Vitolins, M., Prineas, R. J. 2013; 6 (4): 655-661

  Abstract

  We evaluated the risk of incident heart failure (HF) associated with bundle-branch blocks (BBBs) in postmenopausal women.Cox's regression was used to evaluate hazard ratios with 95% confidence intervals for HF among 65975 participants of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study during an average follow-up of 14 years. BBBs observed in 1676 women at baseline were categorized into left, right, and indetermined-type BBBs (LBBB, RBBB, and intraventricular conduction defect, respectively). Compared with women with no BBB, LBBB, and intraventricular conduction defect were strong predictors of incident HF in multivariable-adjusted risk models (hazard ratio, 3.79; confidence interval, 2.95-4.87 for LBBB and hazard ratio, 3.53; confidence interval, 2.14-5.81 for intraventricular conduction defect). RBBB was not a significant predictor of incident HF in multivariable-adjusted risk model, but the combination of RBBB and left anterior fascicular block was a strong predictor (hazard ratio, 2.96; confidence interval, 1.77-4.93). QRS duration was an independent predictor of incident HF only in LBBB, with more pronounced risk at QRS ≥ 140 ms than at <140 ms. QRS nondipolar voltage (RNDPV) was an independent predictor in both RBBB and LBBB and, in addition, in LBBB, QRS/STT angle and ST J-point depression in aVL were independent predictors.LBBB, intraventricular conduction defect, and RBBB combined with left anterior fascicular block are strong predictors of incident HF in multivariable-adjusted risk models, but RBBB is not a significant predictor. QRS duration ≥ 140 ms may warrant consideration in LBBB as an indication for further diagnostic evaluation for possible therapeutic and preventive action. Clinical Trial Registration- URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT00000611.

  View details for DOI 10.1161/CIRCHEARTFAILURE.113.000217

  View details for PubMedID 23729198

• Taming Rare Variation With Known Biology in Long QT Syndrome. Circulation. Cardiovascular genetics Perez, M. V., Ashley, E. A. 2013; 6 (3): 227-229

  View details for DOI 10.1161/CIRCGENETICS.113.000199

  View details for PubMedID 23778589

• From bedside to bench JOURNAL OF ELECTROCARDIOLOGY Perez, M., Froelicher, V. 2013; 46 (2): 114-115

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jelectrocard.2012.12.015

  View details for Web of Science ID 000316837500012

  View details for PubMedID 23498752

• Pacemaker Therapy in Atrial Fibrillation Journal of Cardiology and Vascular Medicine Park, S., Wang, P. J., Zei, P. C., Hsia, H. H., Turakhi, M., Perez, M. V., Al-Ahmad, A. A. 2013; 1: 1-7
• Effects of Postmenopausal Hormone Therapy on Incident Atrial Fibrillation The Women's Health Initiative Randomized Controlled Trials CIRCULATION-ARRHYTHMIA AND ELECTROPHYSIOLOGY Perez, M. V., Wang, P. J., Larson, J. C., Virnig, B. A., Cochrane, B., Curb, J. D., Klein, L., Manson, J. E., Martin, L. W., Robinson, J., Wassertheil-Smoller, S., Stefanick, M. L. 2012; 5 (6): 1108-1116

  Abstract

  Atrial fibrillation (AF) is less prevalent in women versus men, but associated with higher risks of stroke and death in women. The role hormone therapy plays in AF is not well understood.The Women's Health Initiative randomized postmenopausal women to placebo or conjugated equine estrogens (0.625 mg/d) plus medroxyprogesterone acetate (2.5 mg/d) if they had a uterus (N=16 608) or to conjugated equine estrogens only if they had prior hysterectomy (N=10 739). Incident AF was identified by ECG and diagnosis codes from Medicare claims or hospitalization records. Hazard ratios for incident AF were estimated using Cox proportional hazards regression. After excluding participants with baseline AF, there were 611 incident AF cases over a mean of 5.6 years among 16 128 estrogen plus progestin participants, and 683 cases over a mean of 7.1 years among 10 251 conjugated equine estrogens alone participants. Incident AF was more frequent in the active groups of both trials, reaching statistical significance in the trial of conjugated equine estrogens alone in women with prior hysterectomy (hazard ratio, 1.17; CI, 1.00-1.36; P=0.045) and in the pooled analysis (hazard ratio, 1.12; CI, 1.00-1.24; P=0.05), but not in the estrogen plus progestin trial (hazard ratio, 1.07; CI, 0.91-1.25; P=0.44). These results were only minimally affected by adjustment for incident stroke, coronary heart disease, and heart failure.Incident AF was modestly elevated in hysterectomized women randomized to postmenopausal E-alone, and in the pooled group randomized to E-alone or estrogen plus progestin. The trend in women with intact uterus receiving estrogen plus progestin, considered separately, was not statistically significant.ClinicalTrials.gov; Identifier: NCT00000611.

  View details for DOI 10.1161/CIRCEP.112.972224

  View details for Web of Science ID 000313586900018

  View details for PubMedID 23169946

• Semantic Confusion: The Case of Early Repolarization and the J Point AMERICAN JOURNAL OF MEDICINE Perez, M. V., Friday, K., Froelicher, V. 2012; 125 (9): 843-844

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.amjmed.2011.08.024

  View details for PubMedID 22340816

• Prognostic Implications of Q Waves and T-Wave Inversion Associated With Early Repolarization MAYO CLINIC PROCEEDINGS Uberoi, A., Sallam, K., Perez, M., Jain, N. A., Ashley, E., Froelicher, V. 2012; 87 (7): 614-619

  Abstract

  To evaluate the prevalence of early polarization (ER) in a stable population and to evaluate the prognostic significance of the association or absence of Q waves or T-wave inversion (TWI).In this retrospective study performed at the university-affiliated Palo Alto Veterans Affairs Health Care Center from March 1, 1987, through December 31, 1999, we evaluated outpatient electrocardiograms. Vital status and cause of death were determined in all patients, with a mean ± SD follow-up of 7.6±3.8 years.Of the 29,281 patients, 87% were men and 13% were African American. Inferior or lateral ER was present in 664 patients (2.3%): in inferior leads in 185 (0.6%), in lateral leads in 479 (1.6%) , and in both inferior and lateral leads in 163 (0.6%). Only when Q waves or TWI accompanied ER was there an increased risk of cardiovascular death (Cox proportional hazards regression model, 5.0; 95% confidence interval, 3.4-7.2; P<.001).Common patterns of ER without concomitant Q waves or TWI are not associated with increased risk of cardiovascular death; however, when either occurs with ER, there is a hazard ratio of 5.0. These findings confirm that ER is a benign entity; however, the presence of Q waves or TWI with ER is predictive of increased cardiovascular death.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.mayocp.2012.04.009

  View details for PubMedID 22766081

• Use and overuse of left ventriculography AMERICAN HEART JOURNAL Witteles, R. M., Knowles, J. W., Perez, M., Morris, W. M., Spettell, C. M., Brennan, T. A., Heidenreich, P. A. 2012; 163 (4): 617-?

  Abstract

  Left ventriculography provided the first imaging of left ventricular function and was historically performed as part of coronary angiography despite a small but significant risk of complications. Because modern noninvasive imaging techniques are more accurate and carry smaller risks, the routine use of left ventriculography is of questionable utility. We sought to analyze the frequency that left ventriculography was performed during coronary angiography in patients with and without a recent alternative assessment of left ventricular function.We performed a retrospective analysis of insurance claims data from the Aetna health care benefits database including all adults who underwent coronary angiography in 2007. The primary outcome was the concomitant use of left ventriculography during coronary angiography.Of 96,235 patients who underwent coronary angiography, left ventriculography was performed in 78,705 (81.8%). Use of left ventriculography was high in all subgroups, with greatest use in younger patients, those with a diagnosis of coronary disease, and those in the Southern United States. In the population who had undergone a very recent ejection fraction assessment by another modality (within 30 days) and who had had no intervening diagnosis of new heart failure, myocardial infarction, hypotension, or shock (37,149 patients), left ventriculography was performed in 32,798 patients (88%)-a rate higher than in the overall cohort.Left ventriculography was performed in most coronary angiography cases and often when an alternative imaging modality had been recently completed. New clinical practice guidelines should be considered to decrease the overuse of this invasive test.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.ahj.2011.12.018

  View details for PubMedID 22520528

• The prognostic value of early repolarization with ST-segment elevation in African Americans HEART RHYTHM Perez, M. V., Uberoi, A., Jain, N. A., Ashley, E., Turakhia, M. P., Froelicher, V. 2012; 9 (4): 558-565

  Abstract

  Increased prevalence of classic early repolarization, defined as ST-segment elevation (STE) in the absence of acute myocardial injury, in African Americans is well established. The prognostic value of this pattern in different ethnicities remains controversial.Measure association between early repolarization and cardiovascular mortality in African Americans.The resting electrocardiograms of 45,829 patients were evaluated at the Palo Alto Veterans Affairs Hospital. Subjects with inpatient status or electrocardiographic evidence of acute myocardial infarction were excluded, leaving 29,281 subjects. ST-segment elevation, defined as an elevation of >0.1 mV at the end of the QRS, was electronically flagged and visually adjudicated by 3 observers blinded to outcomes. An association between ethnicity and early repolarization was measured by using multivariate logistic regression. We analyzed associations between early repolarization and cardiovascular mortality by using the Cox proportional hazards regression analysis.Subjects were 13% women and 13.3% African Americans, with an average age of 55 years and followed for an average of 7.6 years, resulting in 1995 cardiovascular deaths. There were 479 subjects with lateral STE and 185 with inferior STE. After adjustment for age, sex, heart rate, and coronary artery disease, African American ethnicity was associated with lateral or inferior STE (odds ratio 3.1; P = .0001). While lateral or inferior STE in non-African Americans was independently associated with cardiovascular death (hazard ratio 1.6; P = .02), it was not associated with cardiovascular death in African Americans (hazard ratio 0.75; P = .50).Although early repolarization is more prevalent in African Americans, it is not predictive of cardiovascular death in this population and may represent a distinct electrophysiologic phenomenon.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.hrthm.2011.11.020

  View details for PubMedID 22094072

• Catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation: state-of-the-art techniques and future perspectives JOURNAL OF CARDIOVASCULAR MEDICINE Santangeli, P., Di Biase, L., Burkhardt, D. J., Horton, R., Sanchez, J., Bai, R., Pump, A., Perez, M., Wang, P. J., Natale, A., Al-Ahmad, A. 2012; 13 (2): 108-124

  Abstract

  The impact of atrial fibrillation on the healthcare systems of Western countries is overwhelming, due to its independent association with death, systemic thromboembolism, impaired quality of life and hospitalizations. Catheter ablation is the only treatment thus far demonstrated capable of achieving cure in a substantial proportion of patients. Pulmonary vein antrum isolation (PVAI) is the cornerstone of current atrial fibrillation ablation techniques, with the greatest efficacy as a stand-alone procedure in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. Use of general anesthesia, open-irrigated ablation catheters and maintenance of periprocedural therapeutic warfarin has been demonstrated to increase the safety and effectiveness of PVAI. In patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, the systematic addition of superior vena cava isolation increases the long-term freedom from atrial fibrillation recurrence. A more extensive ablation approach extending to the entire left atrial posterior wall and to complex fractionated electrograms (CFAEs) is warranted in nonparoxysmal atrial fibrillation patients, in whom nonpulmonary vein trigger sites are frequently identified. Up to one-third of these patients experiencing atrial fibrillation recurrence after ablation have evidence of triggers from the left atrial appendage. Isolation of this structure is the best treatment strategy to improve the long-term success rate. In recent years, in addition to the development of ablation techniques to increase the success rate, outcomes of atrial fibrillation treatment trials have been reconsidered. In particular, reduction of hospitalization, stroke and mortality, as well as economic factors, have all been considered relevant to evaluate the effectiveness of atrial fibrillation treatment. Large ongoing trials are specifically evaluating the impact of atrial fibrillation ablation on these outcomes. This article will summarize the state-of-the art techniques for atrial fibrillation ablation, and will discuss the contribution of ongoing studies to the future of atrial fibrillation ablation.

  View details for DOI 10.2459/JCM.0b013e32834f2371

  View details for Web of Science ID 000299652200004

  View details for PubMedID 22193837

• Early Repolarization in an Ambulatory Clinical Population CIRCULATION Uberoi, A., Jain, N. A., Perez, M., Weinkopff, A., Ashley, E., Hadley, D., Turakhia, M. P., Froelicher, V. 2011; 124 (20): 2208-2214

  Abstract

  The significance of early repolarization, particularly regarding the morphology of the R-wave downslope, has come under question.We evaluated 29 281 resting ambulatory ECGs from the VA Palo Alto Health Care System. With PR interval as the isoelectric line and amplitude criteria ≥0.1 mV, ST-segment elevation is defined at the end of the QRS, J wave as an upward deflection, and slur as a conduction delay on the QRS downstroke. Associations of ST-segment elevation patterns, J waves, and slurs with cardiovascular mortality were analyzed with Cox analysis. With a median follow-up of 7.6 years, there were 1995 cardiac deaths. Of 29 281 subjects, 87% were male (55±14 years) and 13% were female (56±17 years); 13% were black, 6% were Hispanic, and 81% were white or other. Six hundred sixty-four (2.3%) had inferior or lateral ST-segment elevation: 185 (0.6%) in inferior leads and 479 (1.6%) in lateral leads, 163 (0.6%) in both, and 0.4% had global elevation. A total of 4041 ECGs were analyzed with enhanced display, and 583 (14%) had J waves or slurring, which were more prevalent in those with than in those without ST-segment elevation (61% versus 13%; P<0.001). ST-segment elevation occurred more in those with than in those without J waves or slurs (12% versus 1.3%; P<0.001). Except when involving only inferior leads, all components of early repolarization were more common in young individuals, male subjects, blacks, and those with bradycardia. All patterns and components of early repolarization were associated with decreased cardiovascular mortality, but this was not significant after adjustment for age.We found no significant association between any components of early repolarization and cardiac mortality.

  View details for DOI 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.111.047191

  View details for PubMedID 21986288

• The Impact of ST Elevation on Athletic Screening CLINICAL JOURNAL OF SPORT MEDICINE Leo, T., Uberoi, A., Jain, N. A., Garza, D., Chowdhury, S., Freeman, J. V., Perez, M., Ashley, E., Froelicher, V. 2011; 21 (5): 433-440

  Abstract

  To demonstrate the prevalence and patterns of ST elevation (STE) in ambulatory individuals and athletes and compare the clinical outcomes.Retrospective cohort study. ST elevation was measured by computer algorithm and defined as ≥0.1 mV at the end of the QRS complex. Elevation was confirmed, and J waves and slurring were coded visually.Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System and Stanford University varsity athlete screening evaluation.Overall, 45 829 electrocardiograms (ECGs) were obtained from the clinical patient cohort and 658 ECGs from athletes. We excluded inpatients and those with ECG abnormalities, leaving 20 901 outpatients and 641 athletes.Electrocardiogram evaluation and follow-up for vital status.All-cause and cardiovascular mortality and cardiac events.ST elevation in the anterior and lateral leads was more prevalent in men and in African Americans and inversely related to age and resting heart rate. Athletes had a higher prevalence of early repolarization even when matched for age and gender with nonathletes. ST elevation greater than 0.2 mV (2 mm) was very unusual. ST elevation was not associated with cardiac death in the clinical population or with cardiac events or abnormal test results in the athletes.Early repolarization is not associated with cardiac death and has patterns that help distinguish it from STE associated with cardiac conditions, such as myocardial ischemia or injury, pericarditis, and the Brugada syndrome.

  View details for DOI 10.1097/JSM.0B013E31822CF105

  View details for PubMedID 21892017

• Interpretation of the Electrocardiogram of Young Athletes CIRCULATION Uberoi, A., Stein, R., Perez, M. V., Freeman, J., Wheeler, M., Dewey, F., Peidro, R., Hadley, D., Drezner, J., Sharma, S., Pelliccia, A., Corrado, D., Niebauer, J., Estes, M., Ashley, E., Froelicher, V. 2011; 124 (6): 746-757

  View details for DOI 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.110.013078

  View details for PubMedID 21824936

• Gene Coexpression Network Topology of Cardiac Development, Hypertrophy, and Failure CIRCULATION-CARDIOVASCULAR GENETICS Dewey, F. E., Perez, M. V., Wheeler, M. T., Watt, C., Spin, J., Langfelder, P., Horvath, S., Hannenhalli, S., Cappola, T. P., Ashley, E. A. 2011; 4 (1): 26-U129

  Abstract

  Network analysis techniques allow a more accurate reflection of underlying systems biology to be realized than traditional unidimensional molecular biology approaches. Using gene coexpression network analysis, we define the gene expression network topology of cardiac hypertrophy and failure and the extent of recapitulation of fetal gene expression programs in failing and hypertrophied adult myocardium.We assembled all myocardial transcript data in the Gene Expression Omnibus (n=1617). Because hierarchical analysis revealed species had primacy over disease clustering, we focused this analysis on the most complete (murine) dataset (n=478). Using gene coexpression network analysis, we derived functional modules, regulatory mediators, and higher-order topological relationships between genes and identified 50 gene coexpression modules in developing myocardium that were not present in normal adult tissue. We found that known gene expression markers of myocardial adaptation were members of upregulated modules but not hub genes. We identified ZIC2 as a novel transcription factor associated with coexpression modules common to developing and failing myocardium. Of 50 fetal gene coexpression modules, 3 (6%) were reproduced in hypertrophied myocardium and 7 (14%) were reproduced in failing myocardium. One fetal module was common to both failing and hypertrophied myocardium.Network modeling allows systems analysis of cardiovascular development and disease. Although we did not find evidence for a global coordinated program of fetal gene expression in adult myocardial adaptation, our analysis revealed specific gene expression modules active during both development and disease and specific candidates for their regulation.

  View details for DOI 10.1161/CIRCGENETICS.110.941757

  View details for PubMedID 21127201

• Personalized Medicine and Cardiovascular Disease: From Genome to Bedside Current Cardiovascular Risk Reports S. Pan, F. E. Dewey, M. V. Perez, J. W. Knowles, R. Chen, A. J. Butte, E. A. Ashley 2011; 5: 542-551
• Cost-Effectiveness of Genetic Testing in Family Members of Patients With Long-QT Syndrome CIRCULATION-CARDIOVASCULAR QUALITY AND OUTCOMES Perez, M. V., Kumarasamy, N. A., Owens, D. K., Wang, P. J., Hlatky, M. A. 2011; 4 (1): 76-84

  Abstract

  Family members of patients with established long-QT syndrome (LQTS) often lack definitive clinical findings, yet may have inherited an LQTS mutation and be at risk of sudden death. Genetic testing can identify mutations in 75% of patients with LQTS, but genetic testing of family members remains controversial.We used a Markov model to assess the cost-effectiveness of 3 strategies for treating an asymptomatic 10-year-old, first-degree relative of a patient with clinically evident LQTS. In the genetic testing strategy, relatives undergo genetic testing only for the mutation identified in the index patient, and relatives who test positive for the mutation are treated with β-blockers. This strategy was compared with (1) empirical treatment of relatives with β-blockers and (2) watchful waiting, with treatment only after development of symptoms. The genetic testing strategy resulted in better survival and quality-adjusted life years at higher cost, with a cost-effectiveness ratio of $67 400 per quality-adjusted life year gained compared with watchful waiting. The cost-effectiveness of the genetic testing strategy improved to less than $50 000 per quality-adjusted life year gained when applied selectively either to (1) relatives with higher clinical suspicion of LQTS (pretest probability 65% to 81%), or to (2) families with a higher than average risk of sudden death, or to (3) larger families (2 or more first-degree relatives tested).Genetic testing of young first-degree relatives of patients with definite LQTS is moderately expensive, but can reach acceptable thresholds of cost-effectiveness when applied to selected patients.

  View details for DOI 10.1161/CIRCOUTCOMES.110.957365

  View details for PubMedID 21139095

• Inappropriate pacing in a patient with managed ventricular pacing: What is the cause? HEART RHYTHM Perez, M. V., Al-Ahmad, A. A., Wang, P. J., Turakhia, M. P. 2010; 7 (9): 1336-1337

  Abstract

  A case of inappropriate atrial pacing in a patient with a pacemaker programmed with Managed Ventricular Pacing (MVP) mode, a proprietary algorithm in Medtronic devices, is presented. The patient was an 84-year-old woman who presented in sinus rhythm with complete atrioventricular block. A dual-chamber pacemaker was implanted and programmed to an MVP pacing mode. After the implant, the patient developed a relatively slow atrial tachyarrhythmia with 2:1 atrioventricular block and inappropriate atrial pacing, followed by a delay in tracking of the atrial tachyarrhythmia. The mechanisms for these behaviors are described.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.hrthm.2010.04.028

  View details for PubMedID 20435165

• Addition of the Electrocardiogram to the Preparticipation Examination of College Athletes CLINICAL JOURNAL OF SPORT MEDICINE Le, V., Wheeler, M. T., Mandic, S., Dewey, F., Fonda, H., Perez, M., Sungar, G., Garza, D., Ashley, E. A., Matheson, G., Froelicher, V. 2010; 20 (2): 98-105

  Abstract

  Although the use of standardized cardiovascular (CV) system-focused history and physical examination is recommended for the preparticipation examination (PPE) of athletes, the addition of the electrocardiogram (ECG) has been controversial. Because the impact of ECG screening on college athletes has rarely been reported, we analyzed the findings of adding the ECG to the PPE of Stanford athletes.For the past 15 years, the Stanford Sports Medicine program has mandated a PPE questionnaire and physical examination by Stanford physicians for participation in intercollegiate athletics. In 2007, computerized ECGs with digital measurements were recorded on athletes and entered into a database.Although the use of standardized CV-focused history and physical examination are recommended for the PPE of athletes, the addition of the ECG has been controversial. Because the feasibility and outcomes of ECG screening on college athletes have rarely been reported, we present findings derived from the addition of the ECG to the PPE of Stanford athletes. For the past 15 years, the Stanford Sports Medicine program has mandated a PPE questionnaire and physical examination by Stanford physicians for participation in intercollegiate athletics. In 2007, computerized ECGs with digital measurements were recorded on athletes and entered into a database.Six hundred fifty-eight recordings were obtained (54% men, 10% African-American, mean age 20 years) representing 24 sports. Although 68% of the women had normal ECGs, only 38% of the men did so. Incomplete right bundle branch block (RBBB) (13%), right axis deviation (RAD) (10%), and atrial abnormalities (3%) were the 3 most common minor abnormalities. Sokolow-Lyon criteria for left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) were found in 49%; however, only 27% had a Romhilt-Estes score of >or=4. T-wave inversion in V2 to V3 occurred in 7%, and only 5 men had abnormal Q-waves. Sixty-three athletes (10%) were judged to have distinctly abnormal ECG findings possibly associated with conditions including hypertrophic cardiomyopathy or arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia/cardiomyopathy. These athletes were offered further testing but this was not mandated according to the research protocol.Six hundred fifty-three recordings were obtained (54% men, 7% African American, mean age 20 years), representing 24 sports. Although 68% of the women had normal ECGs, only 38% of the men did so. Incomplete RBBB (13%), RAD (10%), and atrial abnormalities (3%) were the 3 most common minor abnormalities. Sokolow-Lyon criteria for LVH were found in 49%; however, only 27% had a Romhilt-Estes score of >or=4. T-wave inversion in V2 to V3 occurred in 7% and only 5 men had abnormal Q-waves. Sixty-five athletes (10%) were judged to have distinctly abnormal ECG findings suggestive of arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and/or biventricular hypertrophy. These athletes will be submitted to further testing.Mass ECG screening is achievable within the collegiate setting by using volunteers when the appropriate equipment is available. However, the rate of secondary testing suggests the need for an evaluation of cost-effectiveness for mass screening and the development of new athlete-specific ECG interpretation algorithms.

  View details for DOI 10.1097/JSM.0b013e3181d44705

  View details for PubMedID 20215891

• Adding an Electrocardiogram to the Pre-participation Examination in Competitive Athletes: A Systematic Review CURRENT PROBLEMS IN CARDIOLOGY Perez, M., Fonda, H., Le, V., Mitiku, T., Ray, J., Freeman, J. V., Ashley, E., Froelicher, V. F. 2009; 34 (12): 586-662

  Abstract

  No matter how rare, the death of young athletes is a tragedy. Can it be prevented? The European experience suggests that adding the electrocardiogram (ECG) to the standard medical and family history and physical examination can decrease cardiac deaths by 90%. However, there has not been a randomized trial to demonstrate such a reduction. While there are obvious differences between the European and American experiences with athletes including very differing causes of athletic deaths, some would highlight the European emphasis on public welfare vs the protection of personal rights in the USA. Even the authors of this systematic review have differing interpretation of the data: some of us view screening as a hopeless battle against Bayes, while others feel that the ECG can save lives. What we all agree on is that the USA should implement the American Heart Association 12-point screening recommendations and that, before ECG screening is mandated, we need to gather more data and optimize ECG criteria for screening young athletes.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.cpcardiol.2009.08.002

  View details for Web of Science ID 000271915700002

  View details for PubMedID 19887232

• Electrocardiographic predictors of atrial fibrillation AMERICAN HEART JOURNAL Perez, M. V., Dewey, F. E., Marcus, R., Ashley, E. A., Al-Ahmad, A. A., Wang, P. J., Froelicher, V. F. 2009; 158 (4): 622-628

  Abstract

  Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most prevalent arrhythmia in the United States and accounts for more than 750,000 strokes per year. Noninvasive predictors of AF may help identify patients at risk of developing AF. Our objective was to identify the electrocardiographic characteristics associated with onset of AF.This was a retrospective cohort analysis of 42,751 patients with electrocardiograms (ECGs) ordered by physician's discretion and analyzed using a computerized system. The population was followed for detection of AF on subsequent ECGs. Cox proportional hazard regression analysis was performed to test the association between these ECG characteristics and development of AF.For a mean follow-up of 5.3 years, 1,050 (2.4%) patients were found to have AF on subsequent ECG recordings. Several ECG characteristics, such as P-wave dispersion (the difference between the widest and narrowest P waves), premature atrial contractions, and an abnormal P axis, were predictive of AF with hazard ratio of approximately 2 after correcting for age and sex. P-wave index, the SD of P-wave duration across all leads, was one of the strongest predictors of AF with a concordance index of 0.62 and a hazard ratio of 2.7 (95% CI 2.1-3.3) for a P-wave index >35. These were among the several independently predictive markers identified on multivariate analysis.Several ECG markers are independently predictive of future onset of AF. The P index, a measurement of disorganized atrial depolarization, is one of the strongest predictors of AF. The ECG contains valuable prognostic information that can identify patients at risk of AF.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.ahj.2009.08.002

  View details for PubMedID 19781423

• Mechanisms of exercise intolerance in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy AMERICAN HEART JOURNAL Le, V., Perez, M. V., Wheeler, M. T., Myers, J., Schnittger, I., Ashley, E. A. 2009; 158 (3): E27-E34

  Abstract

  To determine the relation between echocardiogram findings and exercise capacity in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM).Sixty-three patients (48 +/- 15 years) were referred for cardiopulmonary testing and exercise echocardiography. They were classified by morphology: proximal (n = 11), reverse curvature (n = 32), apical (n = 7), and concentric HCM (n = 13). There were more women in proximal and reverse curvature groups. Proximal HCM patients were older. Maximal left ventricular thickness was highest in reverse curvature group. At peak exercise, concentric HCM achieved the lowest percent predicted maximal Vo2. Excluding apical group, no significant differences in gradient were noted between groups. Overall, no statistically significant correlation was found between peak Vo2, wall thickness, and gradient. Significant correlations were noted between peak Vo2 and indexed left atrial (LA) volume (r = -0.52), lateral E' (r = 0.50), and lateral E/E' ratio (r = -0.46). A multivariate model including age, lateral E', indexed LA volume, and mitral A wave explained 46% of the variance in peak Vo2 (P = .01).Lateral E' and indexed LA volume are negatively correlated with functional capacity. Although patients with concentric morphology achieved the lowest peak Vo2, wall thickness and gradient did not predict exercise capacity.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.ahj.2009.06.006

  View details for Web of Science ID 000269641200027

  View details for PubMedID 19699847

• Statin Use and Ventricular Arrhythmias During Clinical Treadmill Testing JOURNAL OF CARDIOVASCULAR ELECTROPHYSIOLOGY Dewey, F. E., Perez, M., Hadley, D., Freeman, J. V., Wang, P., Ashley, E. A., Myers, J., Froelicher, V. F. 2009; 20 (2): 193-199

  Abstract

  Premature ventricular complexes (PVCs) during exercise are associated with adverse prognosis, particularly in patients with intermediate treadmill test findings. Statin use reduces the incidence of resting ventricular arrhythmias in patients with coronary artery disease; however, the relationship between statin use and exercise-induced ventricular arrhythmias has not been investigated.We evaluated the association between statin use and PVCs in 1,847 heart-failure-free patients (mean age 58, 95% male) undergoing clinical exercise treadmill testing between 1997 and 2004 in the VA Palo Alto Health Care System. PVCs were quantified in beats per minute and frequent PVCs were defined as PVC rates greater than the median value (0.43 and 0.60 PVCs per minute for exercise and recovery, respectively). Propensity-adjusted logistic regression was used to evaluate the odds of developing PVCs during exercise and recovery periods associated with statin use. There were 431 subjects who developed frequent PVCs during exercise and 284 subjects had frequent recovery PVCs. After propensity score adjustment, subjects treated with statins (n = 145) had 42% lower odds of developing frequent PVCs during exercise (odds ratio [OR] 0.58, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.37-0.93) and 44% lower odds of developing frequent PVCs during recovery (OR 0.56, 95% CI 0.30-0.94). These effects were not modified by age, prior coronary disease, hypercholesterolemia, exercise-induced angina, or exercise capacity.Statin use was associated with reduced odds of frequent PVCs during and after clinical exercise testing in a manner independent of associations with coronary disease or ischemia in our study population.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/j.1540-8167.2008.01284.x

  View details for PubMedID 18775041

• Added Value of a Resting ECG Neural Network That Predicts Cardiovascular Mortality ANNALS OF NONINVASIVE ELECTROCARDIOLOGY Perez, M. V., Dewey, F. E., Tan, S. Y., Myers, J., Froelicher, V. F. 2009; 14 (1): 26-34

  Abstract

  The resting 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) remains the most commonly used test in evaluating patients with suspected cardiovascular disease. Prognostic values of individual findings on the ECG have been reported but may be of limited use.The characteristics of 45,855 ECGs ordered by physician's discretion were first recorded and analyzed using a computerized system. Ninety percent of these ECGs were used to train an artifical neural network (ANN) to predict cardiovascular mortality (CVM) based on 132 ECG and four demographic characteristics. The ANN generated a Resting ECG Neural Network (RENN) score that was then tested in the remaining ECGs. The RENN score was finally assessed in a cohort of 2189 patients who underwent exercise treadmill testing and were followed for CVM.The RENN score was able to better predict CVM compared to individual ECG markers or a traditional Cox regression model in the testing cohort. Over a mean of 8.6 years, there were 156 cardiovascular deaths in the treadmill cohort. Among the patients who were classified as intermediate risk by Duke Treadmill Scoring (DTS), the third tertile of the RENN score demonstrated an adjusted Cox hazard ratio of 5.4 (95% CI 2.0-15.2) compared to the first RENN tertile. The 10-year CVM was 2.8%, 8.6% and 22% in the first, second and third RENN tertiles, respectively.An ANN that uses the resting ECG and demographic variables to predict CVM was created. The RENN score can further risk stratify patients deemed at moderate risk on exercise treadmill testing.

  View details for DOI 10.1111/j.1542-474X.2008.00270.x

  View details for PubMedID 19149790

• Isolated Disease of the Proximal Left Anterior Descending Artery Comparing the Effectiveness of Percutaneous Coronary Interventions and Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery JACC-CARDIOVASCULAR INTERVENTIONS Kapoor, J. R., Gienger, A. L., Ardehali, R., Varghese, R., Perez, M. V., Sundaram, V., McDonald, K. M., Owens, D. K., Hlatky, M. A., Bravata, D. M. 2008; 1 (5): 483-491

  Abstract

  This study sought to systematically compare the effectiveness of percutaneous coronary intervention and coronary artery bypass surgery in patients with single-vessel disease of the proximal left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery.It is uncertain whether percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) or coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery provides better clinical outcomes among patients with single-vessel disease of the proximal LAD.We searched relevant databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane from 1966 to 2006) to identify randomized controlled trials that compared outcomes for patients with single-vessel proximal LAD assigned to either PCI or CABG.We identified 9 randomized controlled trials that enrolled a total of 1,210 patients (633 received PCI and 577 received CABG). There were no differences in survival at 30 days, 1 year, or 5 years, nor were there differences in the rates of procedural strokes or myocardial infarctions, whereas the rate of repeat revascularization was significantly less after CABG than after PCI (at 1 year: 7.3% vs. 19.5%; at 5 years: 7.3% vs. 33.5%). Angina relief was significantly greater after CABG than after PCI (at 1 year: 95.5% vs. 84.6%; at 5 years: 84.2% vs. 75.6%). Patients undergoing CABG spent 3.2 more days in the hospital than those receiving PCI (95% confidence interval: 2.3 to 4.1 days, p < 0.0001), required more transfusions, and were more likely to have arrhythmias immediately post-procedure.In patients with single-vessel, proximal LAD disease, survival was similar in CABG-assigned and PCI-assigned patients; CABG was significantly more effective in relieving angina and led to fewer repeat revascularizations.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jcin.2008.07.001

  View details for PubMedID 19463349

• Genetics of Arrhythmia: Disease Pathways Beyond Ion Channels JOURNAL OF CARDIOVASCULAR TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH Perez, M. V., Wheeler, M., Ho, M., Pavlovic, A., Wang, P., Ashley, E. A. 2008; 1 (2): 155-165

  Abstract

  Diseases of the electrical conduction system that lead to irregularities in cardiac rhythm can have morbid and often lethal clinical outcomes. Linkage analysis has been the principal tool used to discover the genetic mutations responsible for Mendelian arrhythmic disease. Although the majority of arrhythmias can be accounted for by mutations in genes encoding ion channels, linkage analysis has also uncovered the role of other gene families such as those encoding members of the desmosome. With a list of candidates in mind, mutational analysis has helped confirm the suspicion that proteins found in caveolae or gap junctions also play a role in arrhythmogenesis. Atrial fibrillation and sudden cardiac death are relatively common arrhythmias that may be caused by multiple factors including common genetic variants. Genome-wide association studies are already revealing the important and poorly understood role of intergenic regions in atrial fibrillation. Despite the great advancements that have been made in our understanding of the genetics of these diseases, we are still far from able to routinely use genomic data to make clinical management decisions. There remain several hurdles in the study of genetics of arrhythmia, including the costs of genotyping, the need to find large affected families for linkage analysis, or to recruit large numbers of patients for genome-wide studies. Novel techniques that incorporate epigenetic information, such as known gene-gene interactions, biologic pathways, and experimental gene expression, will need to be developed to better interpret the large amount of genetic data that can now be generated. The study of arrhythmia genetics will continue to elucidate the pathophysiology of disease, help identify novel therapies, and ultimately allow us to deliver the individualized medical therapy that has long been anticipated.

  View details for DOI 10.1007/s12265-008-9030-4

  View details for Web of Science ID 000207734800012

  View details for PubMedID 20559910

• Systematic review: The comparative effectiveness of percutaneous coronary interventions and coronary artery bypass graft surgery ANNALS OF INTERNAL MEDICINE Bravata, D. M., Gienger, A. L., McDonald, K. M., Sundaram, V., Perez, M. V., Varghese, R., Kapoor, J. R., Ardehali, R., Owens, D. K., Hlatky, M. A. 2007; 147 (10): 703-U139

  Abstract

  The comparative effectiveness of coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for patients in whom both procedures are feasible remains poorly understood.To compare the effectiveness of PCI and CABG in patients for whom coronary revascularization is clinically indicated.MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane databases (1966-2006); conference proceedings; and bibliographies of retrieved articles.Randomized, controlled trials (RCTs) reported in any language that compared clinical outcomes of PCI with those of CABG, and selected observational studies.Information was extracted on study design, sample characteristics, interventions, and clinical outcomes.The authors identified 23 RCTs in which 5019 patients were randomly assigned to PCI and 4944 patients were randomly assigned to CABG. The difference in survival after PCI or CABG was less than 1% over 10 years of follow-up. Survival did not differ between PCI and CABG for patients with diabetes in the 6 trials that reported on this subgroup. Procedure-related strokes were more common after CABG than after PCI (1.2% vs. 0.6%; risk difference, 0.6%; P = 0.002). Angina relief was greater after CABG than after PCI, with risk differences ranging from 5% to 8% at 1 to 5 years (P < 0.001). The absolute rates of angina relief at 5 years were 79% after PCI and 84% after CABG. Repeated revascularization was more common after PCI than after CABG (risk difference, 24% at 1 year and 33% at 5 years; P < 0.001); the absolute rates at 5 years were 46.1% after balloon angioplasty, 40.1% after PCI with stents, and 9.8% after CABG. In the observational studies, the CABG-PCI hazard ratio for death favored PCI among patients with the least severe disease and CABG among those with the most severe disease.The RCTs were conducted in leading centers in selected patients. The authors could not assess whether comparative outcomes vary according to clinical factors, such as extent of coronary disease, ejection fraction, or previous procedures. Only 1 small trial used drug-eluting stents.Compared with PCI, CABG was more effective in relieving angina and led to fewer repeated revascularizations but had a higher risk for procedural stroke. Survival to 10 years was similar for both procedures.

  View details for PubMedID 17938385

• Prognostic value of the computerized ECG in Hispanics CLINICAL CARDIOLOGY Perez, M. V., Yaw, T. S., Myers, J., Froelicher, V. F. 2007; 30 (4): 189-194

  Abstract

  The prevalence and prognostic values of electrocardiogram (ECG) abnormalities in Hispanics have not been compared to other ethnicities in a large population. Despite a worse cardiovascular risk profile, the prevalence of cardiovascular disease is lower in Hispanics compared to non-Hispanics.We hypothesized that ECG abnormalities were less common in Hispanics and were not as strongly associated with cardiovascular mortality.45,563 ECGs ordered for usual clinical indications in a Veteran's hospital were available for analysis. 1,392 patients who died within one week of the ECG were excluded. Demographic characteristics were recorded and the population was followed for an average of 7.5 years using the California Death Index. The presence of baseline ECG characteristics were recorded and analyzed using the GE/Marquette computerized ECG system. Age, sex and heart rate adjusted Cox hazard ratio analyses were performed.Being Hispanic was associated with lower cardiovascular death, with a hazard ratio (HR) of 0.76 (95% CI 0.65-0.89). Findings such as atrial fibrillation, presence of Q-waves, left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), upright T-waves in aortic valve replacement (aVR) and cardiac Infarction Injury Scores > 6 were significantly less prevalent in Hispanics than in non-Hispanics. These findings were similarly associated with increased cardiovascular mortality in both groups, each with a HR of approximately 2.The lower prevalence of ECG characteristics associated with coronary heart disease, atrial fibrillation and left ventricular hypertrophy support prior observations that cardiovascular disease is less prevalent in the Hispanic population. These findings, however, are similarly associated with increased mortality compared to non-Hispanics.

  View details for DOI 10.1002/clc.20053

  View details for PubMedID 17443659

• Giant coronary aneurysms in heart transplantation: an unusual presentation of cardiac allograft vasculopathy JOURNAL OF HEART AND LUNG TRANSPLANTATION Haddad, F., Perez, M., Fleischmann, D., Valantine, H., Hunt, S. A. 2006; 25 (11): 1367-1370

  Abstract

  Cardiac allograft vasculopathy is a leading cause of death during long-term follow-up of heart transplant recipients. We report 2 cases of cardiac allograft vasculopathy associated with giant coronary aneurysms. To our knowledge, these are the first reported cases of spontaneous giant coronary aneurysms in heart transplant recipients.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.healun.2006.07.006

  View details for Web of Science ID 000242222100015

  View details for PubMedID 17097503

• p300/MDM2 complexes participate in MDM2-mediated p53 degradation MOLECULAR CELL Grossman, S. R., Perez, M., Kung, A. L., Joseph, M., Mansur, C., Xiao, Z. X., Kumar, S., Howley, P. M., Livingston, D. M. 1998; 2 (4): 405-415

  Abstract

  Control of p53 turnover is critical to p53 function. E1A binding to p300/CBP translates into enhanced p53 stability, implying that these coactivator proteins normally operate in p53 turnover control. In this regard, the p300 C/H1 region serves as a specific in vivo binding site for both p53 and MDM2, a naturally occurring p53 destabilizer. Moreover, most of the endogenous MDM2 is bound to p300, and genetic analysis implies that specific interactions of p53 and MDM2 with p300 C/H1 are important steps in the MDM2-directed turnover of p53. A specific role for p300 in endogenous p53 degradation is underscored by the p53-stabilizing effect of overproducing the p300 C/H1 domain. Taken together, the data indicate that specific interactions between p300/CBP C/H1, p53, and MDM2 are intimately involved in the MDM2-mediated control of p53 abundance.

  View details for Web of Science ID 000076678900001

  View details for PubMedID 9809062